News broke out that CJ Group vice chairwoman Lee Mi-kyung returned to Korea in a hurry to meet with Lee Soo-man, chief producer of SM Entertainment, indicating that competition is intensifying among large companies to take over the entertainment company.CJ Group reportedly expressed its interest in
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyeongkeun.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Piolink is a provider of solutions for optimizing data security and data traffic management. We expect it to: 1) benefit from the government’s Digital New Deal policy; and 2) enjoy trickle-d
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at hyungwou@shinhan.com and ym.ko@shinhan.com, respectively. -- Ed. 2Q review: Sales of KRW17.1tr (+48%), OP of KRW1.1tr (+66% YoY)LG Electronics posted sales of KRW17.1tr (+48% YoY) and operating profit of KRW1.1tr (+66% YoY)
Samsung Electronics announced on July 26 a new partnership with CJ ENM, Asia’s leading entertainment and media group behind the Oscar-winning film "Parasite," to build a virtual production studio to spearhead the production of future video content.The company will combine its micro-LED technology wi
Mirae Asset Global Investments listed three new ETFs focused on new technologies and the entertainment sector in China on the Hong Kong stock exchange on July 23. The new ETFs are the Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF, Global X China Games and Entertainment ETF and Global X China E-commerce and Logist
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at mj1224@shinhan.com. -- Ed. 2Q21 OP forecast at KRW173.7bn (+10.2% QoQ)We now expect Kakao to report operating profit of KRW173.7bn (+10.2% QoQ) on sales of KRW1.34tr (+6.8% QoQ) for 2Q21, slightly missing the KRW179.6bn consen
LG Group has started to invest in the metaverse, a word made up of the prefix "meta" (meaning beyond) and the stem "verse" from universe. It means the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet.LG Technology Ventures recently invested in U.S. startup Wave, a company specializing
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. We raise our TP on YG Ent to W71,000, noting the firm’s mid/long-term momentum from both the resumption of offline concerts and full-fledged growth at the fandom business. Despite an absence of act
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at mj1224@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Upbeat on rise in investment asset value and strong release of new gameWe find the increase in value of investment assets positive, with recent share price gains for Coway (021240 KS) and Hive Entert
India International Convention and Expo Centre (IICC), which is currently being built in New Delhi, India, will represent the MICE industry of Southwest Asia. IICC will be operated and managed by KINEXIN Convention Management Private Limited, which is a consortium company founded by the Korea Intern
LG Display will accelerate its penetration of the mobility display market with transparent OLED panels.LG Display announced on June 16 that it will introduce its transparent OLED panels for trains at the Korea Railways and Logistics Fair 2021, which is held at BEXCO in Busan from June 16-19. The tra
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. For the media/entertainment industry, the key phrase for 2H21 is to be ‘earnings recovery following vaccination’. Market interest is to focus on the businesses which show earnings recovery rather t
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com. -- Ed. - Internet and game company shares, which led the 2020 stock market on the theme of ‘contactless’, have now entered a period of price correction. While the number of Covid-19 cases has yet to mea
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. In 1H21, strong sales of online concert tickets and albums have reconfirmed the strong global fan base for YG Ent’s main artists. In 2H21, following collaboration with Weverse, we expect the firm’s
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. We maintain a Positive outlook on the media/entertainment industry. Given: 1) an expansion of new sales sources amid Covid-19; and 2) the possibility of resumed operations following vaccination, ou
The author is a strategist of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at lawrence.kim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Considering the ongoing expansion in market liquidity and corporate earnings improvement, the stock market looks to have additional room to rise, and thus, it is not yet time to leave the par
CJ ENM announced on May 31 that it would invest five trillion won for five years to come to build a K-content universe and turn itself into a global total entertainment company by launching TVING abroad and utilizing franchise intellectual properties.The scale of the investment is unprecedented in t
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Astory recorded 1Q21 OP of W0.8bn. Production progress for Jirisan (drama series) was slow, and margins were diluted by a large portion of outsourced dramas. But, amid expectations towards favorabl
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. YG Ent booked a 1Q21 earnings surprise, as margins from Blackpink’s online concert, which signaled the start of YG’s fandom business, surpassed expectations. The fandom business is likely to show h
Naver and Kakao have acquired North American web novel content platforms, starting a full-scale web content platform war.Naver announced on May 11 that it has completed the acquisition of the world's largest web novel platform "Wattpad." The company’s board of directors decided to acquire Wattpa