This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:04 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2026.
Private equity fund (PEF) manager H Private Equity has become the new owner of DC Inside, the country's largest online community site. It signed a definitive agreement about half a year after being selected as the preferred bidder. H PE plans to complete payment of the acquisition price by March.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 9th, H PE and the beneficial owner of DC Inside's largest shareholder, Community Connect, recently signed a stock purchase agreement (SPA) for the transfer of management control. The stake for sale is Community Connect's management control equity, and the sale price was reportedly set at around 200 billion won, as previously discussed.
DC Inside is an online community launched in 1999. In March 2000, it was established as a corporation under the name "Digital Inside," and there have since been several business transfers and changes in the governance structure.
Currently, the unlisted company Community Connect holds 100% of DC Inside's equity. Of Community Connect's equity, 90% is owned by an individual wealthy investor identified as A, and the remaining 10% is owned by DC Inside founder Kim Yu-sik, the CEO. Kim is expected to remain with the company and be involved in management control even after the change in the largest shareholder.
H PE was selected as the preferred negotiation partner for the DC Inside acquisition in Aug. last year, but as the signing of the definitive agreement was delayed, some in the industry voiced concerns about closing the deal. A source in the IB industry said, "Funding took a bit of time, but H PE already had a blind fund, so there was no need to raise much in a project fund."
H PE previously raised its first blind fund at a 200 billion won scale in 2024. The fund's dry powder (investment capacity) was reportedly about 100 billion won. In addition, a domestic securities firm is said to have provided acquisition financing.
H PE is said to have pursued this transaction on the view that DC Inside has substantial room for additional growth based on solid traffic and high profitability. Given the business structure's high reliance on advertising revenue, there may be short-term fluctuations with economic cycles, but it is evaluated as having strong cash generation thanks to an unusually large user base and loyal customers among domestic online communities.
DC Inside's 2024 revenue was 20.7 billion won, and operating profit was 9 billion won. EBITDA was about 9.2 billion won. In the same year, average daily pageviews were 191 million, and average monthly pageviews were 3.855 billion. The average daily number of visitors was 3,485,311, and the average daily numbers of comments and posts were 2,449,355 and 926,438, respectively.