이 기사는 2021년 09월 10일 07:59 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Kidari Studio is in the limelight as rumors swirl that the South Korean media content firm may raise funds from Chinese video-sharing focused social networking service platform TikTok.

Kidari Studio said in its regulatory filing on Wednesday that it recorded revenue of 51.1 billion won ($44 million) and an operating profit of 4.1 billion won in the first half of this year. Its revenue already exceeded the last year’s revenue of 45.5 billion won, with its operating profit being close to the last year’s operating profit of 4.6 billion won.

The company’s stellar performance is attributable to its subsidiary Lezhin Entertainment, which operates South Korea’s online web cartoon platform Lezhin Comics. Kidari Studio acquired Lezhin Entertainment in November 2020 and incorporated it as a subsidiary in February.

Lezhin Entertainment recorded revenue of 36.3 billion won in the first half, accounting for more than half of Kidari Studio’s revenue on a consolidated basis. Lezhin Entertainment’s net profit was 3.7 billion won in the first half.

Before acquired by Kidari Studio, Lezhin Entertainment recorded net losses of 11.6 billion won in 2017, 10.4 billion won in 2018, 6.2 billion won in 2019, and 3.2 billion won in 2020.

While Lezhin Entertainment had a business model that could benefit from the rapid growth of the web content market, the company suffered owner risk and the domestic and overseas webtoon markets have been dominated by Naver and Kakao. Some market experts said that it won’t be easy for Lezhin Entertainment to be a top-tier platform company even after the acquisition.

Bucking the concerns, Lezhin Entertainment swung to a net profit immediately after it was taken over by Kidari Studio. Kidari Studio has Lezhin Entertainment, which operates in Japan and the U.S., and France-based Delitoon SAS as its subsidiaries. It is one of the few domestic webtoon operators that have succeeded in global expansion.

The company also has strong growth potential based on intellectual properties of digital comics. The recently released Netflix original series 'D.P' is an adaptation of the webtoon of the same title owned by Lezhin Entertainment. (Reporting by Pil-woo Choi)