Tencent made a statement on July 2 debunking reports about it planning to acquire shares in South Korean game developer Nexon (source: ThisIsGame). This is the second time Tencent has spoken out about the false reports.
On June 12, Bloomberg reported that Tencent reached out to the family of Nexon’s late founder Jung-Ju Kim to discuss the possibility of an acquisition, citing anonymous sources. From there, media and economic circles speculated that Tencent might be planning to acquire the 30.6% stake Kim’s family members handed to the Korean government in 2023 to settle an inheritance tax bill.
Tencent denied this on June 18 (source: Reuters), but as rumors have persisted among international and Korean media (even affecting Nexon’s share price), the conglomerate has doubled down, commenting “In principle, we do not comment on rumors, […] but given the various speculations circulating in Korea recently, we would like to clarify that the reports [regarding the acquisition of Nexon] are untrue.”
While the Korean government has indeed started looking for a buyer for its 30.6% stake in Nexon, Tencent is not participating in the bidding process.
On the other hand, Tencent has a strong presence in other South Korean game companies – with a 34.58% stake in Stellar Blade studio Shift Up and a 13.87% stake in Krafton. Moreover, in 2019, it formed a consortium with Korea’s Netmarble to bid for the acquisition of Nexon, which could be why people believe they’re still interested in a deal.
