The founding CEO of WeMade Co., the label behind the Legend of Mir mobile game series, has joined the list of Korea’s top billionaires based on stockholding value, amid hype over non-fungible token (NFT) and metaverse theme on the Korean stock market.

Park Kwan-ho held 3.4 trillion won ($2.9 billion) worth in Kosdaq-trading WeMade shares based on the stock’s Friday closing price of 237,000 won, making him the tenth wealthiest individual in Korea based on stock holdings, according to data published by local financial data tracker FnGuide.

Park is the second executive from the game industry on the top 10 stock billionaire list.

Krafton Inc. founder and Chairman Chang Byung-gyu ranked No. 8 with his stock holding valued at 3.8 trillion won.

Chief executives of other video game giants are also close to make the top 10 list.

Kim Dae-il of PearlAbyss Corp. came at No. 11 with 3.3 trillion won and Bang Jun-hyuk of Netmarble Corp. at No. 16 with 2.8 trillion won.

WeMade’s Park had his stock holding valued relatively humble at 565.2 billion won on Aug. 18. His wealth surged in line with the price of the stock’s stunning ascent of 493.86 percent in just three months in the fastest growth in value among stocks listed in both the Kospi and Kosdaq for the three-month period. At its intraday high of 245,700 won Monday, the stock has gained nearly 10 times the intraday low of 24,904 won on Aug. 12.

The second fastest climber is its affiliate WeMade Max Co., gaining 462.41 percent.

The two stocks have been flying high since the release of Mir4, an NFT-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game that allows users to earn cryptocurrency while playing the video game.

Because game publishers are keen to add more NFT-based games, they are expected to see their stock holding value further increase.

Others that made the top 10 stock-rich individual list were Jay Y. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co. and Samsung Group’s de facto head, ranking No. 1 with 13.1 trillion won with his mother Hong Ra-hee coming second with 9.8 trillion won. Kakao Group’s chief Kim Beom-soo was third richest with 7.4 trillion won.

By Pulse

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