Baby Shark video creator files for Kosdaq IPO

The Pinkfong Company Inc., the creator of the billion-view video Baby Shark, has launched the process of an initial public offering on South Korea’s junior stock market Kosdaq as it rebounds from its post-pandemic slump.

On Thursday, the South Korean startup submitted a preliminary filing to the Korea Exchange for its IPO. Mirae Asset Securities Co. and Samsung Securities Co. are acting as joint underwriters.

Since debuting as part of a YouTube children’s song series in 2015, Baby Shark gained global popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its signature video Baby Shark Dance reached the top of YouTube’s most-viewed list in 2020 and in 2022 became the first video in the platform’s history to surpass 10 billion views.

It marked the first time for a Korean content video to win the title. 

LOWERED VALUATION

To facilitate the IPO, the company has trimmed its estimated valuation to about 700 billion won ($510 million), down from more than 1 trillion won estimated in mid-2021.

The IPO will be composed entirely of new shares.

Its financial and strategic backers, including telecom services provider KT Corp., KDB Capital Corp. and Pureun Partners Asset Management, will not offload their shares in the offering, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Chief Executive Kim Min Seok is the largest shareholder, with an 18.4% stake, followed by Samsung Publishing Co. with a 16.8% stake and KT Corp with a 9.17% stake. Kim is the eldest son of Kim Jin-yong, CEO of Samsung Publishing.

The Pinkfong Company has expanded its intellectual property of popular characters such as Baby Shark and Bebefinn into various formats, including animated and music streaming content, live performances and games.

It operates dedicated YouTube channels for each of those characters, which together boast 250 million subscribers.

Since peaking at 21.4 billion won in 2020, its operating profit tumbled to one-fifth the level in 2022. In 2023, it swung to an operating loss of 3.2 billion won.

However, it turned around in 2024 with a consolidated operating profit of 18.8 billion won on revenue of 97.4 billion won.

In the first quarter of this year, the Pinkfong Company earned 6.1 billion won in operating profit.

Foreign exchange gains have boosted its earnings as its overseas profits were converted into Korean won, which has lagged behind other major currencies in recent years.

Write to Seok-Cheol Choi at dolsoi@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.