"Director Class Was This Level?" Retail Investors 'Bewildered' by Son Goku Stock Surge

The Naver stock discussion room (Jongtosil) for the KOSDAQ-listed company 'Sonokong' is buzzing. On the 8th, Sonokong's stock price closed up 12.21% compared to the previous day, with some netizens claiming, "Isn't this in memory of Akira Toriyama, the author of the manga 'Dragon Ball'?"

On that day, there was a heated debate in the discussion room about why Sonokong's stock price surged sharply in the afternoon. One investor said, "There was no particular event, but it suddenly rose as much as 16% during the session. Is it because the main character of Dragon Ball by the late Toriyama, who passed away today, is Sonokong?" and added, "The stock market seems to be rising for a really absurd reason," expressing disbelief.

The stock price of Sonokong, a domestic toy manufacturing company, closed at 2,940 KRW, up 12.21% on the day. [Image source=Captured from Naver homepage]

In addition, there were dissatisfied voices such as "What does Toriyama have to do with this company?", "An incident that shows the class of the Korean stock market," and "I've never seen a 'memorial theme stock' before."

Earlier that afternoon, reports emerged that the famous Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama had died from acute subdural hematoma. Toriyama was the original author of the global hit 'Dragon Ball,' whose main character is also named 'Sonokong.'

Young image of Akira Toriyama, the author of the comic 'Dragon Ball'
[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, there were also opinions that the news of Sonokong's entry into the secondary battery market acted as a delayed positive factor. Sonokong, which started as a toy manufacturing company, appointed Im Beom-jin and Choi Won-sik as new directors and co-CEOs at the end of last year, and subsequently announced plans to enter the secondary battery material manufacturing, sales, and distribution business as a new growth engine.

Meanwhile, Sonokong is a toy manufacturing company founded in 1996. It has produced various toys using intellectual property (IP) from famous domestic and international cartoons and once held exclusive distribution rights for the world's largest toy company, Mattel.

In 2022, sales decreased by 12% year-on-year to 66.7 billion KRW, and operating profit turned to a loss of 6 billion KRW. According to the most recent disclosed performance information as of the third quarter of last year, sales amounted to 10.1 billion KRW, down 30% compared to the same period the previous year, and operating profit continued to be in the red.