Daou Kiwoom Group pursues acquisition of Munhakdongne following JoongAng Ilbo... Selection of preferred negotiating party

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Ki-hoon = Daou Kiwoom Group was selected as the preferred negotiating partner for Munhakdongne, a leading domestic publishing company that is seeking to sell.

Daou Kiwoom Group was recently selected as the preferred negotiating party to acquire the management rights of JoongAng Ilbo, and is on the verge of a mega-transaction to simultaneously acquire a major daily newspaper and a large publishing company.

According to the publishing industry on the 23rd, Munhakdongne's largest shareholder and founder Kang Byeong-seon (pen name Kang Tae-hyung, poet) met with Munhakdongne employees this afternoon and announced that he had selected Daukium Group as the preferred acquisition negotiator.

Founder Kang explained that there were four companies that submitted letters of intent for acquisition, and that among them, Daukium Group was judged to be the one that respects the tradition of Munhakdongne and the values ​​of a publishing company.

In particular, it is reported that Daou Kiwoom Group emphasized that it has intellectual property (IP) business capabilities.

In addition, an official from Munhakdongne explained to employees that it will take several months for the actual sale to be completed after the preferred bidder is selected, and that shareholders have agreed to sell 100% of Munhakdongne shares.

According to the Munhakdongne audit report, founder Kang's shares amount to 41.5%. Other shareholders account for 51.8%, and treasury stocks account for 6.7%.

It is known that, excluding founder Kang, the remaining shares are distributed among several shareholders, including the editorial board members at the time of Munhakdongne's founding. The sale price is estimated to be in the tens of billions of won.

Established in 1993, Munhakdongne has played a central role in the domestic literary publishing market by publishing works by leading Korean authors, including Nobel Prize winner Han Kang.

Munhakdongne is a company that has consistently published the works of Korea's leading writers, including Nobel Prize winner Han Kang, and has consistently maintained sales in the 30 billion won range. Last year, sales were 36.9 billion won and operating profit was 7.1 billion won.

However, some analyzes say that a new business strategy is needed for Munhakdongne to grow to the next level in line with changes in the publishing and content markets.

Daou Kiwoom Group also owns Kidari Studio and Lezhin Entertainment, webtoon and web novel platform companies. If the acquisition of Munhakdongne is completed, a growth strategy that combines ‘Literary IP’ is expected to become possible.

Daou Kiwoom Group is also pursuing the acquisition of JoongAng Ilbo by forming a consortium with CJ Group and Shinsegae. On the 19th, it was selected as the preferred negotiating party for the acquisition of JoongAng Ilbo.