Amazon, Comcast, and Electronic Arts are thought to have each submitted bids for NXC Corp, the holding firm of South Korea’s biggest gaming company, Nexon.
According to South Korean publication Maeil Business Newspaper (via Reuters – thanks, Gamasutra), investment bank sources are behind the rumours, but none of the companies concerned would comment publicly to either confirm or deny the claims.
If accurate this means Amazon, Comcast, and Electronic Arts join a host of other interested parties, including Netmarble, Tencent, and the private equity fund PBK Partners.
“We believe that the tangible and intangible value of Nexon is a very important asset for the country,” Netmarble said via a statement earlier this year, maintaining that a sale to an overseas company would be problematic. “If Nexon is sold to an overseas firm, the Korean game industry and ecosystem could be damaged and its competitiveness weakened.”
In other takeover news, earlier this month, Canadian record retailer Sunrise Records owner, Doug Putman, rescued HMV after it went into administration before Christmas. The news came just weeks after it was reported Sports Direct CEO, Mike Ashley, was purportedly in talks to rescue HMV from administration. If he’d been successful, it would have further engaged him with the UK games industry, having purchased a sizeable stake in GAME last year.
Out of the 127 HMV stores, 100 remain open, and 27 stores closed immediately with the loss of 455 jobs. A further 122 warehouse jobs are expected to go, although the deal saved nearly 1,500 jobs in total. Sunrise Records previously acquired 70+ HMV store sites in Canada after the chain went bust in 2013, expanding the retailer’s reach from five to 80+ stores.
