Didim E&F Acquires Drama Production Company IWill Media... "Continuous Additional Mergers and Acquisitions"
Didim E&F, which operates dining brands such as Baekjewon, Tokyo Hana, and Yeonan Sikdang, announced on the 2nd that it has acquired the management rights of drama production company IWill Media from Theraphin.
Didim E&F formalized its transformation into a content company by changing its corporate name and adding business objectives at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in November last year, and recruited Park Chang-sik, former CEO of Kim Jong-hak Production and famous PD of Sandglass. Through securing management rights of IWill Media, the company plans to create synergy between its existing dining business and new content business, and make a full-scale entry into the drama production industry.
IWill Media, established in 2010, is a drama production company that owns famous IPs, directors, and writers. It has shown significant growth with three consecutive years of profitability, recording sales of 24 billion KRW and a net profit of 1.8 billion KRW last year. The drama "Golden Mask," aired last year, achieved a high viewership rating of 17%. This year, it signed a contract with KT to produce a drama based on the popular Naver webtoon "Naje Tteuneun Dal" (The Moon That Rises in the Day), which has accumulated 700 million views. "Naje Tteuneun Dal" will be broadcast through ENA and Netflix in September.
Didim E&F has a strategic partnership with the webtoon company Toomics. Through the acquisition of IWill Media, Didim E&F plans to actively produce dramas based on various IPs owned by Toomics. Toomics recently confirmed the airing of "Delivery Man" on Netflix and is focusing on maximizing profits by producing dramas based on webtoon IPs such as "Mudang" and "Simhaesu."
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Didim E&F opened three overseas stores last year and signed new contracts for six stores, bringing the total number of overseas stores to 38 as of the end of last year. The company aims for a turnaround this year by intensifying its dining business and webtoon IP drama business. In particular, through additional mergers and acquisitions, it plans to leap forward as a "Hallyu content" company by creating synergy between K-Food and K-Content.
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