MegazoneCloud and Bespin Global, the No. 1 and No. 2 managed service provider (MSP) operators, saw diverging fortunes in last year's results. MegazoneCloud returned to profit, while Bespin Global swung back to a loss. Both companies face the task of an initial public offering (IPO), drawing attention to how much they can deliver in artificial intelligence (AI) beyond MSPs going forward.
◇ MegazoneCloud vs. Bespin Global, first-year scorecards after CEOs took office: Chief Executive Yeom Dong-hoon is ahead
In Jan. last year, MegazoneCloud named former Amazon Web Services (AWS) Korea head Yeom Dong-hoon as its new group chief executive, while Bespin Global appointed former Oracle Korea senior vice president Heo Yang-ho as Korea chief. The assignment for both at the time was improving profitability, the key requirement for an IPO.
In the 2024 results, Bespin Global's situation was better. On a consolidation basis, Bespin Global posted 463.7 billion won in sales and 179.89 million won in operating profit. MegazoneCloud, by contrast, recorded about 1.3678 trillion won in sales and 34 billion won in operating losses.
However, over the year since Yeom and Heo took office, Yeom pulled ahead. Bespin Global failed to maintain its profit trend, but MegazoneCloud succeeded in turning a profit. On a consolidation basis last year, MegazoneCloud logged 1.7496 trillion won in sales, 233 million won in operating profit, and 8.2 billion won in net income. Sales rose 27.9% from 2024, and operating profit turned positive for the first time since the company's founding. By contrast, on a consolidation basis last year, Bespin Global's sales rose about 17% year over year to 542.9 billion won, but it posted an operating loss of 3.9 billion won.
◇ Overhauling operations to break free from MSP's structural limits
The divergence in results stems from how the two companies expanded their MSP businesses. Even when revenue grows in MSP, securing profitability is not easy. In the early days, sales rose quickly amid the cloud migration boom, but price competition intensified and even large corporations' SI (systems integration) firms jumped into the market, compressing margins. In particular, MSPs have high labor cost ratios, require 24/7 operations staff, and handle many customized projects, making operating margin improvement difficult. Therefore, relying on MSP alone makes it hard to achieve the profitability needed for a successful IPO.
MegazoneCloud and Bespin Global are expanding around AI and security to break MSP's structural limits and are pushing operational overhauls.
In May last year, MegazoneCloud announced a new corporate vision and strategy of "from Cloud-Native to AI native." Chief Executive Yeom Dong-hoon defined an "AI native corporations" as those that go beyond using AI as a simple tool to internalize it across business strategy-setting and decision-making, as well as products and services, redesigning the organization's DNA itself around AI.
In Jan. this year, Bespin Global reorganized around AI and pledged to leap forward as an AI transformation partner. Chief Executive Heo Yang-ho rolled out the slogan "Helping You Adopt AI," saying the company will support corporations in internalizing AI across their businesses from consulting to buildout, management, and operations. Bespin Global created an "AI·Data BC (Business Center)" and put Vice President Han Sun-ho, who led Watson AI at IBM, in overall charge. The AI value chain BC and the enterprise and emerging institutional sector were assigned to Vice President Han Dae-young, while the public projects division and the "AI Platform BC" organization were assigned to Vice President Kang Jong-ho. In addition, the "Google BC," which is responsible for enterprise AI service capabilities, kept Executive Director Park Jun-yong in his post.
◇ Bespin Global increases external borrowing fund to invest in overseas subsidiaries
MegazoneCloud has begun to see results from its overhaul since last year. Last year, AI- and security-related sales each exceeded 370 billion won and 70 billion won, respectively.
By contrast, according to Bespin Global's 2025 consolidation audit report released, the company's "cash flow from operating activities," a measure of how much cash the core business generated last year, was negative 5.1 billion won, while "cash outflows from investing activities," which reflect spending on asset, equity, and facilities for future growth, were negative 32.6 billion won. In other words, the company did not invest with money it earned; it brought in outside funds to invest. Last year, Bespin Global's short-term borrowing fund increased by 18.8 billion won and its long-term borrowing fund by 3.3 billion won. Most of those funds, 23.2 billion won, flowed to the Singapore subsidiary.
In particular, financial liabilities totaled 142.5 billion won last year, of which 108.7 billion won are due within three months. An accounting expert said, "With operating income in the red, unless Bespin Global holds 100 billion won within three months, it will again have to bring in outside funds to repay borrowing fund coming due," and added, "Cash flow is deteriorating because the pace of earning money is not faster than the pace of borrowing." In response, a Bespin Global official said, "Expenditures increased for research and development (R&D) on customized solutions at the U.S. subsidiary," and said, "As we have confirmed revenue from expanding the business with AI at the Korea subsidiary, this business model should soon deliver results globally." Looking only at the Korea business, Bespin Global posted 433.1 billion won in sales and 3.9 billion won in operating profit last year. On the sharp rise in borrowing fund, the company explained, "We established a joint venture (JV) with E& Enterprise in the Middle East in 2023, and funds were injected from the Singapore subsidiary to expand the Middle East business," adding, "We took on borrowing due to the Middle East war, but execution is on hold."
Lee Kyung-joon, head of Innovation IB Asset Management, said, "The Korea Exchange (KRX) has recently been tightening reviews, requiring sustained numerical results in AI businesses to approve listings," and added, "Without proof in the numbers, a successful IPO is difficult." He added, "MegazoneCloud appears likely to be able to file for review around the first half of next year, while Bespin Global will take a bit more time."