KT Establishes Content Holding Corporation... Yoon Yong-pil Appointed as First CEO

Establishment of KT Studio Genie

Yoon Yong-pil, appointed as the inaugural CEO of KT Studio Genie, a newly established content-specialized subsidiary of KT Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Leading the 탈(脫)telecommunication movement, KT is strengthening its content division based on the competitive advantage of its group media platform with 12 million subscribers. The newly established content-specialized corporation, 'KT Studio Genie,' will oversee nine existing media content business companies and play a central role.

On the 28th, KT announced that it will consolidate the media content capabilities within the group to establish KT Studio Genie, a content-specialized company covering investment, planning, production, and distribution. After recruiting external talent and completing preparations, it will officially launch in the first half of this year.

Yoon Yong-pil, a content expert within the KT Group, has been appointed as the inaugural CEO and will concurrently hold the position. There are plans to recruit external content experts and appoint them as co-CEOs in the future. Yoon served as the head of KT Skylife's Content Convergence Business Division from 2016 to 2019 and has led the company as CEO of SkyTV since 2018.

KT Studio Genie will promote synergy between the media platforms and content capabilities owned by the KT Group and oversee the group's content business. Focusing on original intellectual property (IP) discovered through its web novel and webtoon specialized subsidiary StoryWiz, it will accelerate original content production in collaboration with domestic production companies. It will also utilize related subsidiaries such as KT Olleh, KT Skylife, KT Season, Genie Music, StoryWiz, SkyTV, KTH, Nasmedia, and PlayD to draw a future integrated blueprint.

Previously, KT emphasized its transformation from a 'telecommunication operator' to a digital platform company (Digico). It predicted that how it spends this year will determine the next decade's future and announced changes accordingly. It is also prepared to challenge new businesses such as media and content, robotics, and biohealthcare in line with the rapidly changing mobile telecommunications market.

A KT official stated, "Based on the strong media platforms owned by the KT Group, we will strengthen collaboration with leading domestic production companies to grow KT Studio Genie into the top content business operator in Korea. While securing competitive original content, we will lead the development of K-content and the expansion of the ecosystem, making content a new growth engine for the KT Group."