Milli's Seojae to List on KOSDAQ... IPO Planned for November

Photo by Millie's Library

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] The reading platform Millie’s Library announced on the 29th that it has submitted a securities registration statement to the Financial Services Commission and officially commenced the public offering process.

Millie’s Library is offering 2 million shares. The desired offering price band is 21,500 KRW to 25,000 KRW, with a total expected offering amount of 43 billion to 50 billion KRW. Demand forecasting will take place from October 25 to 26, subscription from October 31 to November 1, and the company plans to be listed on the KOSDAQ market in November. Mirae Asset Securities is the lead underwriter.

Founded in 2016, Millie’s Library is a reading platform company that launched Korea’s first subscription-based e-book service in October 2017. It offers 120,000 reading contents and has transformed book intellectual property (IP) into multimedia content such as audiobooks, audio dramas, and chat books (chat-based reading content), adding convenience and interest. Since being acquired by Genie Music in September last year and incorporated into the KT Group, it has accelerated the dissemination of richer reading content.

With an overwhelming volume of book content, Millie’s Library has grown into the largest reading platform in Korea. The reading content offered by Millie’s Library spans all book categories, totaling 120,000 titles, making it the largest reading platform in the country. A notable strength is that 60% of its subscribers are in their 20s and 30s, showing strong support from the MZ generation. As of August this year, the number of publishing houses with supply contracts has exceeded 1,500, establishing a high-trust relationship with publishers and securing a stable growth trajectory as a subscription platform.

Millie’s Library has steadily increased its subscriber base, gaining recognition for its business viability. The cumulative number of members grew sharply from about 2 million in 2019 to approximately 5.5 million as of August this year. B2B corporate memberships are also expanding. Following the trend of public institutions and companies adopting electronic libraries, the number of companies using Millie’s Library services surged from 30 in 2019 to about 190 as of August this year.

Thanks to the increase in content and subscribers, Millie’s Library turned a profit in the first half of 2022, signaling positive management performance. It recorded sales of 28.9 billion KRW in 2021, achieving an average annual growth rate of 61% from 2019 to 2021. In the first half of this year, it achieved sales of 21 billion KRW and an operating profit of 1 billion KRW, marking the start of profit growth.

After listing, Millie’s Library plans to further expand book IP into various secondary contents. For example, the bestseller “Welcome to Hyunamdong Bookstore,” which originated from Millie’s Library, will be expanded into various secondary contents such as audiobooks, while maximizing synergy with KT media affiliates for multifaceted utilization. The categories of book content offered by Millie’s Library will also be expanded into multiple genres, and the company plans to actively broaden its activities into children’s and youth content businesses.

Seo Young-taek, CEO of Millie’s Library, said, “As a result of focusing on making the daily lives of all people who need reading valuable and enjoyable, we have gained subscribers’ trust and grown into the largest reading platform in Korea. We will lead growth based on a win-win structure with authors and publishers, fostering coexistence with the publishing industry.” He added, “Through synergy with the KT Group, we will become a company loved by all generations by infinitely utilizing original book-based IP.”