[People人] Market Cap 30 Trillion 'Midas Touch' Jang Byeong-gyu... Can He Also Win on the KOSPI Battlefield?

Jang Byung-gyu, Chairman of Krafton Board
Built the Success Story of 'Baeg'
Attention on Whether IPO Price Bubble Controversy Will Subside

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] "30 trillion won." This is the market valuation of Krafton ahead of its listing on the KOSPI. It surpasses the market capitalization of the so-called "3N"?NCSoft, Nexon, and Netmarble?which have dominated the gaming industry. As the numbers suggest, Krafton has evolved from a "dark horse" to a "game changer" that has reshaped the industry landscape.

At the center of Krafton's success is Jang Byung-gyu, Chairman of Krafton's Board of Directors. As the founder, Chairman Jang is a first-generation venture entrepreneur who followed a typical elite path to success. He graduated from Daegu Science High School, entered the Department of Computer Science at KAIST, and completed both his master's and doctoral degrees at the same institution.

At the age of 24 in 1997, he co-founded Neowiz and two years later launched the online chat service "SayClub." It was the world's first to introduce a paid avatar service and achieved sales of 13 billion won, marking his first taste of success. In 2000, Neowiz was listed on KOSDAQ, and the value of the shares held by Chairman Jang reached 40 billion won based on the initial public offering price.

In 2005, Chairman Jang founded the online search service company "Cheotnun," and the following year sold it to Naver for 35 billion won. Considering the initial investment was 5 billion won, this represented a sevenfold return in just one year. This track record earned him the nickname "Midas touch."

Chairman Jang's entrepreneurial challenges continued. In 2007, he founded "Bluehole Studio," the predecessor of Krafton, with game developers who had left NCSoft. The initial investment was 30 billion won. The start was not smooth. Until the release of the global hit "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," Bluehole was merely a small to medium-sized game company barely avoiding losses. Early on, the company was embroiled in a lawsuit with NCSoft over technology leakage issues involving co-founders, and after the poor performance of its first title "Tera," it underwent restructuring that involved laying off 20% of its staff.

During these difficult times, Chairman Jang and the company were able to endure thanks to his unique management philosophy. In particular, his view on talent is considered the driving force behind today's Krafton. He reinterpreted the three elements of a company?land, capital, and labor?according to the characteristics of startups. Startups are not heavily constrained by these elements. Therefore, he believed the essential factor for startups was "people." However, he regarded these people not as mere "workers" but as "talent." He thought that small and medium-sized developers like Bluehole needed to secure good talent to survive, which led to a strategy of absorbing and merging capable development teams to grow the company.

Chairman Jang's philosophy on talent is based on trust. The fact that Kim Chang-han, PD of ZinoGames (now CEO of Krafton), joined the company in 2015 and was able to release Battlegrounds two years later can be interpreted as a result of Chairman Jang's trust in his employees.

Since its release in March 2017, Battlegrounds has sold over 75 million copies on PC and consoles. This is more than twice the sales of Minecraft (30 million), which ranks second historically, setting a world record. The mobile version, released in 2018, topped mobile downloads in over 150 countries, achieved 1 billion global cumulative downloads, and was the world's highest-grossing mobile game last year, breaking numerous records and becoming the world's most popular game. Naturally, the status of Chairman Jang and Krafton has changed significantly.

Chairman Jang became widely known when he was appointed as the inaugural chairman of the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee under the Moon Jae-in administration. During his tenure, he hosted the "Regulation and System Innovation Hackathon," discussing 12 agendas and facilitating social consensus that contributed to government policy. The hackathon served as a forum where the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee acted as a mediator and coordinator, enabling various stakeholders to discuss and reach concrete agreements. He also formulated government recommendations reflecting the philosophies and expertise of committee members to respond to economic and social changes brought by the 4th Industrial Revolution.

After stepping down as chairman in November last year and returning to Krafton's frontline management, he experienced the company's best performance ever. Krafton recorded sales of 1.6704 trillion won, operating profit of 773.8 billion won, and net profit of 556.2 billion won. In the first quarter of this year, operating profit reached 352.4 billion won, breaking all previous records.

The controversy over the IPO price bubble ahead of the listing is a challenge he must address going forward. Krafton initially proposed a market capitalization of 35 trillion won but had to lower the IPO price by more than 10% following a correction request from the Financial Supervisory Service. For Chairman Jang, who has been on a successful path, this might have been a humiliating experience. Attention is focused on whether he can once again write a success story by proving the value of Krafton as he envisions it.