CJ E&M "게임사업 포기 안해"

Published : Nov 11, 2013 - 16:50 Updated : Nov 11, 2013 - 16:50

CJ E&M이 11일, 넷마블 등 자사의 게임사업을 포기할 것이라는 일부 매체의 보도를 부인했다.

CJ E&M은 보도자료를 통해 “CJ E&M은 급변하는 게임산업환경에 대응해 게임 부문의 기업가치와 경쟁력을 높이고자 지속적으로 다양한 방안을 검토 중”이라며 게임 사업에 손을 때지 않을 것이라고 밝혔다.

CJ E&M은 그러나 자회사인 CJ게임즈에 대해서는 외부의 투자 유치를 검토 중이 라고 설명했는데, 이는 공정거래법상 지주회사의 증손회사 지분 규제로 올해 말까지 CJ게임즈의 자회사(CJ㈜의 증손회사)인 애니파크, 씨드나인게임즈, 누리엔소프트, CJ게임랩의 지분을 100% 인수하거나 매각해야 하기 때문이다.

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CJ denies sales of its game business unit

By Kim Young-won

CJ E&M, the biggest music and entertainment business firm in Korea, said Monday that it would not pull out of its game business.

“CJ E&M is currently looking into ways to enhance its competitiveness in the rapidly changing game market, and will not give up on operating its game business CJ E&M Games,” the company said in a statement.

The CJ’s game business unit, however, must either buy all the shares of its subsidiaries including ANIPARK Co. and SEED9, or sell its shares of the subsidiaries in compliance with antitrust rules.

The antitrust law in Korea stipulates that a sub-subsidiary of the holding company should not obtain more than the half of shares in another firm and is required to wholly own it or sell it.

CJ E&M Games is a sub-subsidiary CJ Group, which owns CJ E&M.

CJ E&M Games, developer of online baseball game “MaguMagu” and its mobile edition, and online board game Netmarble, raked in 196.8 billion won ($184.4 million) in revenue in the first half of this year, and expected to earn more than double last year’s revenue of 212.1 billion won.

“The decision to wholly buy the subsidiaries or sell some part of the shares has not been made yet,” an official from the game unit of CJ Group said.

As rumors spread of the sale of CJ’s game business unit, CJ E&M’s share price dropped around 14 percent in Monday trading.

(wone0102@heraldcorp.com)