Disney may become an owner of Bitstamp and Korbit

The leading European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp and its South Korean counterpart Korbit may end up in an asset portfolio of Walt Disney Company, the Korean media outlet Korea Herald reports. 

Disney, one of the largest conglomerates of the entertainment industry, wants to purchase 98.6% share of the largest South Korean game developer Nexon. Meanwhile, Nexon is 47 percent owned by NXC, the company that also owns Bitstamp and Korbit.

“The anticipated price for the stake to go on sale is 15 trillion won ($13.2 billion), with premiums for business management rights on top of the Nexon Japan share price, which closed up slightly at 1,681 yen ($15) Tuesday, but slid to 1,558 yen as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday,” Korea Herald writes.

The sale was announced back in January. At this stage, the short-list of prospective buyers includes Kakao, MBK Partners with Netmarble, Tencent, Bain Capital and an undisclosed foreign establishment. However, according to undisclosed sources, Disney is the first in line.

NXC Chairman Kim Jung-ju personally approached a representative of the US entertainment giant to discuss the acquisition. 

It is worth noting, that Disney has been looking into blockchain technologies for some time now. In 2016, the company presented its own hybrid blockchain Dragonchain aimed to increase the efficiency and security of business applications.