Disney Apparently in Talks to Acquire South Korea’s NXC Corp

By Kapil Gauhar

The Walt Disney Co. is apparently in talks to acquire the majority owner of bitcoin exchanges Bitstamp and Korbit.

As reported by Dailyhodl, Disney’s interest is quite unlikely in digital currency, but instead in Nexon, 47% owned by NXC corp and South Korea’s largest game developer as well as the 2nd largest online games publisher worldwide. Nexon provides more than 80 mobile gaming titles, incorporating several titles licensed from Electronic Arts Inc.

Jung-ju Kim, the NXC Chairman, is selling the 98.6% stake that he and his wife hold within the organisation. A report by The Korea Herald April 17 professed that the sale price for NXC Corp comes in at 15 trillion won which amounts $13.2 billion. Though there are many firms interested in buying the shares, incorporating, KKR, MBK Partners, Bain Capital, Kakao and Tencent, Disney is claimed to be at the front.

NXC’s Bitstamp ownership comes through its Belgian investment arm NXMH, that acquired the cryptocurrency exchange for about $400 million in October. Established in 2011, Bitstamp is well-known for being the longest-running bitcoin exchange. The company’s stake in Korbit exchange comes through a 65% stake owned through Nexon directly.

Though it is unlikely that Disney would be much interested in Bitstamp and Korbit, it isn’t the beyond the realm of the possibility that it might retain both should the acquisition proceed. In the first place, Disney took an interest in digital currencies and blockchain technology a few years ago, that created and backed an open-source platform known as Dragonchain that offered an ICO in 2017. Dragonchain and its token (DRGN) are still around, but suffice it to say that it wasn’t a huge success.

If Disney acquires South Korea’s NXC Corp, it will be a small deal as compared to its acquisition of 21st Century Fox Inc. for $71.3 billion in March.