Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Ridi attracts pre-IPO investment worth of W200 billion
Ridibooks' promotional image captured from its website / Courtesy of Ridibooks
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
Ridi, the operator of the country's largest e-book business Ridibooks, is set to attract a 200 billion won ($170 million) pre-IPO investment later this year, boosting its estimated value to around 1 trillion won during its pre-listing phase.
As its corporate value was estimated at around 570 billion won in the previous Series E investment last year, it will have nearly doubled within a year if the pre-IPO investment goes as planned.
Founded in 2008, Ridi is a digital content company comprised of Ridibooks ― the country's leading e-book business ― a webtoon platform and animation streaming services. With its various businesses focused on the global content market, the company logged its first operating profit last year.
The company's annual revenue stood at 155.6 billion won with an operating profit of 2.6 billion won. With the capital raised during the pre-IPO investment, Ridi plans to strengthen its competitiveness in the digital content distribution and sale areas, particularly in the e-book and webtoon markets.
Ridi logo
While Ridi founder and CEO Bae Ki-sik holds 26 percent of the company's stock, it is expected to issue new shares as well as selling old ones throughout the pre-IPO investment phase.
Ridi plans to prepare for its IPO around latter half of next year or in early 2023 with Korea Investment & Securities as its main underwriter.