SEOUL, KOREA – The splitting up of NHN (a Korean Internet content service operator), which has been thus far much bandied around, will be finalized this week.
Once the board of directors approves the restructuring plan outlining the division of NHN mainly into mobile and game divisions on February 6, the plan will be finalized at the general shareholders’ meeting slated for next month.
Barring any last minute surprise, NHN will split into NHN Mobile (tentative name), in charge of Naver’s mobile services such as Me2Day and Band, and Hangame. Korea’s Internet mammoth NHN Corporation that was created by merging Naver with Hangame back in 2000 will eventually disband in 13 years.
NHN Mobile will remain as a 100% subsidiary of NHN Corporation through physical division while Hangame will be separated through a spin-off.
Such a massive reorganization seems to stem from NHN’s moves to swiftly respond to the fast-changing mobile environment.
In a situation where KakaoTalk is vigorously venturing into games, content and commerce after securing a vantage point in the messenger market, NHN’s current corporate structure that encompasses the search engine, mobile and game businesses under one roof, NHN reckoned, will send NHN fighting an uphill battle against new, formidable mobile companies. NHN Mobile will be committed to the development of various services to meet diverse user demands.
Sean Chung (hbpark@etnews.com)
**Article provided by etnews [Korea IT News]
[Reference] : http://english.etnews.com/electronics/2715655_1303.html
