“It is difficult to express the tragedy of the loss of our friend and mentor Jay Kim, a man who had an immeasurable positive impact on the world. As a founder and visionary leader, Jay encouraged those around him to ignore skeptics and trust their creative instincts. He will be deeply missed by his Nexon family and many friends.“said Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon.
“Please forgive us for not being able to give detailed explanations as all of his family members are devastated. The deceased had undergone treatment for depression, and unfortunately it seems that the situation had worsened recently“, commented a spokesperson for the holding of Jay Kim to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Jay Kim founded Nexon in 1994 and accompanied the beginnings of what became an Asian video game giant thanks to its online worlds with titles like The Kingdom of the Winds, MapleStory, KartRider, Mabinogi and of course Dungeon Fighter. Jay Kim left the presidency of Nexon when it went public in 2011, while remaining the representative of its parent company, the holding company NXC Corporation. Little present in the media, he then concentrated on his philanthropic activities.
Between 2013 and 2015, his company donated 20 billion won ($15 million) to build the Purme Nexon Foundation Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital, which opened in 2016 in Seoul. Last December, Jay Kim was named to Forbes Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy list for his donations to two children’s hospitals. He donated 3.8 billion won (2.8 million euros) to the public rehabilitation hospital for children in Chung-nam and 2.5 billion won (1.8 million euros) as part of of the establishment of the Nexon Children’s Palliative Care Center at Seoul National University Hospital.
“His philanthropy has touched millions of young people and includes major contributions to health and education.“, pays tribute to the press release from Nexon. Last year, Forbes estimated Jay Kim’s personal fortune at $ 10.9 billion, making him the 3rd richest man in Korea. His fortune had notably doubled at the time to enter Nexon on the Tokyo stock exchange and not Seoul in 2011. Nexon was then valued at 1.2 billion dollars, against 20 billion dollars today.
In 2021, Nexon achieved a turnover of 2.1 billion euros and a net profit of 901 million euros, mainly thanks to the Korean and Chinese markets. Still mainly anchored on PC and mobile, the group of 6,700 employees is gradually moving forward on consoles with titles like DNF Duel, KartRider Drift and ARC Raiders, the latter being the first game from its Swedish studio Embark Studios.
- Also Read | A new war against the machines begins in ARC Raiders