Topcomedia to Launch Japanese Webtoon Platform in June... "Business Transfer to Proceed as Planned"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Topcomedia announced on the 19th that it can proceed with the scheduled transfer contract of the Japan business division with Topco.

Last month, Topcomedia decided to transfer the distribution business of Japanese webtoons through a contract with Topco and announced that shareholders were granted the right to request stock purchase.

Regarding the business transfer, if the amount of stock purchase requests from dissenting shareholders of Topcomedia exceeded 13 billion KRW, Topcomedia could terminate the contract. The total number of dissenting shareholders related to this transfer was 36 shares.

The possibility of the stock purchase right exercise being extremely minimal was predictable. After the announcement of Topcomedia's acquisition of the Japanese distribution business division, the stock price of Topcomedia continuously rose in the market.

Generally, ordinary shareholders tend to oppose the transfer of business rights by expressing dissent if the stock price remains below the exercise price before the general shareholders' meeting, regardless of the evaluation of the business transfer, considering potential profits. If this continues until the exercise period, it is likely to lead to actual exercise. However, Topcomedia's stock price was significantly higher than the exercise price, so shareholders did not exercise their dissent rights.

After the announcement of the business transfer, the stock price continuously rose, remaining above the exercise price during the exercise period. On the day before the exercise period, the 15th, the stock price was 12,850 KRW, which was 67.01% higher than the stock purchase right exercise price of 7,694 KRW.

Topcomedia's transfer contract of the Japan business division will proceed as scheduled. The transfer of the Japan business division involves Topcomedia acquiring the assets and liabilities, contractual relationships, and rights and obligations related to the Japanese webtoon distribution business operated by Topco.

A Topcomedia official stated, "Not only did the Japanese distribution business, which recorded 9.6 billion KRW in royalties last year solely from supplying Topco's webtoons, but also through Topco Japan, a 100% subsidiary of Topcomedia, which opened its own platform in June this year and directly entered the Japanese market, sales and profits are expected to expand."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.