[Featured Stock] Solbon, Kinmaster Approaching 1 Trillion... Soaring Sale Price 'Matching the Figures'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] As expectations for a sale have driven KineMaster's valuation sharply higher, Solbon is also being re-evaluated.

As of 10:12 AM on the 18th, Solbon was trading at 9,770 KRW, up 7.84% (710 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.

On January 13, KineMaster stated in a disclosure response, "After confirming with the largest shareholder Solbon, Solbon Investment Co., Focus Newspaper Co., Lee Hyesook, Im Iltaek, Jeong Jaewon, Kim Kyungjoong, and others, we received a response that an additional accounting advisory firm has been selected to facilitate the sale of the company's shares held." At that time, Nomura Financial Investment, the sale manager for KineMaster, was preparing a sale teaser (TEASER).

KineMaster's stock price has risen 120% since the beginning of this year. Its market capitalization has surpassed 800 billion KRW. KineMaster operates the video editing app 'KineMaster,' which it developed in-house. Since its launch in December 2013, KineMaster currently has 70 million monthly active users (MAU) and 7.2 million daily active users (DAU). KineMaster ranks as the second-largest video editing app in the market, holding an 18% global market share. The largest user bases are in the United States and India.

Solbon holds approximately 2.41 million shares of KineMaster. Based on the current KineMaster stock price, this amounts to about 150 billion KRW. Including shares held by related parties such as Solbon Investment and Focus Newspaper, they own 33.5%. Considering management control premiums, the cash assets from the sale could approach the market capitalization.

As anyone can shoot videos with a smartphone, interest in video editing apps has grown. Recently, Korean startup Hyperconnect was sold to a U.S. company for 1.9 trillion KRW, causing KineMaster's valuation to soar as well. The market is even discussing prices around the 1 trillion KRW level.

Last year, KineMaster recorded sales of 29.8 billion KRW, operating profit of 4.2 billion KRW, and net profit of 2.5 billion KRW. Sales increased 53% year-over-year, while operating profit and net profit surged 1206% and 3900%, respectively.