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Netmarble invests $190m in label behind K-pop group BTS

The deal follows announcement of BTS World, a Netmarble game based on the band

Matthew Handrahan avatar
News by Matthew Handrahan Editor-in-Chief
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Netmarble has invested around $190 million in Big Hit, the label behind one of South Korea's most popular boy band.

The ₩201.4 billion ($189m) investment will buy a 25.71 per cent stake in Big Hit, making Netmarble the entertainment company's second largest shareholder.

Big Hit's main property is BTS, a hugely popular South Korean boy band. According to Forbes, Netmarble announced a new game based on the band, BTS World, in February.

Netmarble raised $2.3 billion through an IPO in April last year, and it subsequently announced that it had $4.4 billion to fund investments and acquisitions.

However, its biggest deal to date arrived before the IPO, when it acquired Kabam's Vancouver studio in December 2016. Though official figures were not disclosed, the deal was thought to be worth in excess of $800 million.

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Financials Netmarble Corp.
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Matthew Handrahan avatar

Matthew Handrahan

Editor-in-Chief

Matthew Handrahan joined GamesIndustry in 2011, bringing long-form feature-writing experience to the team as well as a deep understanding of the video game development business. He previously spent more than five years at award-winning magazine gamesTM.