Nexon founder's family divests $498 million to pay inheritance taxes

The family of deceased Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju divested their equity worth 666.2 billion won ($498 million) in Nexon’s holding company to pay inheritance taxes.

Nexon Korea's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi [NEXON KOREA]

The family of deceased Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju divested their equity worth 666.2 billion won ($498 million) in Nexon’s holding company to pay inheritance taxes.

NXC Corporation, the game publisher's holding company, said in an electronic disclosure Monday that it had acquired 61,746 shares from Kim’s wife, Yoo Jung-hyun, worth 320.3 billion won, and 63,542 shares worth 329.7 billion won from Kim’s two daughters.

In a separate disclosure on the same day, NXC said it had purchased 3,122 shares worth 16.2 billion won of WiseKids, an investment arm of the holding company, in which the two daughters each hold a 50 percent stake.

“This series of disclosures regarding NXC’s acquisition of treasury stock is aimed at stabilizing the group’s management and enabling the early payment of inheritance taxes by the heirs,” NXC said in a statement.

The announcement follows the remaining family members' divesting a large chunk of their shares in NXC, worth 4.7 trillion won, to pay their inheritance taxes to Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance in May 2023.

Kim, who founded Nexon in 1994, died in Hawaii in February 2022. At the time of his death, Kim owned 67.49 percent of NXC shares.

The remaining family members were reported to have inherited some 10 trillion won ($7.54 billion) of assets and nearly 2 million shares of NXC. Their estimated inheritance tax was some 6 trillion won.

It was speculated that the family had largely paid off its remaining taxes, but an NXC spokesperson told the Korea JoongAng Daily that the matter is “undisclosable.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]