This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:10 p.m. on Sep. 25, 2025.
The Pinkfong Company, a toddler-content specialist famous for "Baby Shark," is seeking a KOSDAQ listing. It selected numerous large Japanese animation companies as comparables, as well as SAMG Entertainment, the producer of Teenieping, targeting a market capitalization of more than 500 billion won. Although that is a considerable price tag, the company value is nearly half of what it was when observers expected it could become a unicorn.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service electronic disclosure system on the 25th, The Pinkfong Company said it submitted a securities registration statement for a KOSDAQ listing on the 22nd and will begin the public offering process in earnest. Joint lead managers are Mirae Asset Securities and Samsung Securities.
The Pinkfong Company drew heavily on well-known Japanese animation companies to assess its company value. It selected Toei Animation, the legendary producer of the Japanese manga "Dragon Ball," Sanrio, the creator of "Hello Kitty," and Kadokawa, the producer of the recently popular manga "Attack on Titan," as comparable companies. Domestically, it selected only SAMG Entertainment.
The Pinkfong Company calculated enterprise value (EV) based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). It multiplied the average EV/EBITDA of four comparable companies, 19.87, by The Pinkfong Company's most recent 12-month EBITDA of 25.6 billion won, subtracted net debt and noncontrolling interests, added cash raised from the new share offering, and applied a discount rate ranging from 28.67% to 15.3% to that amount.
The estimated market capitalization after listing calculated this way is in the range of 459.2 billion won to 545.3 billion won. Given changed market conditions, this is interpreted as focusing on completing the listing rather than being greedy about company value. The Pinkfong Company's company value rose to 700 billion won in 2023, and it was expected to become the first unicorn among content startups.
The reason the market capitalization target became modest is, again, a slowdown in performance. After the COVID-19 pandemic ended, interest in online content faded and profits declined. Operating income, which was 31.2 billion won in 2019, fell to 3.7 billion won in 2022. It rebounded the following year, and operating income improved to 18.8 billion won in 2024, reviving IPO momentum.
The Pinkfong Company will issue all 2 million shares in this offering as newly issued shares. The desired offering price range per share is 32,000 won to 38,000 won, and the total expected offering amount is 64 billion won to 76 billion won. After a bookbuilding process for institutional investors from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3, general subscription will be held Nov. 6–7.
The Pinkfong Company plans to use the funds raised from the listing for investment in new intellectual property (IP) development, research and development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and external IP investment. Kim Min-seok is the largest shareholder with an 18.44% stake; Samsung Publishing and KT hold stakes of 16.77% and 9.17%, respectively.
Founded in 2010, The Pinkfong Company owns IP including Pinkfong, Baby Shark, Hogi, Bebepin and Seallook. Last year it reported revenue of 97.3 billion won and operating income of 18.8 billion won. Revenue for the first half of this year was 45.1 billion won and operating income was 8.9 billion won.