March 16, 2017

KT and LG Uplus, the second and third largest mobile carriers in South Korea, on Wednesday announced that the two mobile carriers will join hands for a music content platform as part of efforts to enhance their Internet of Things and artificial intelligence businesses.

LG Uplus decided to purchase a 15 percent stake, or about 7.38 million shares, in KT Music, an operator of online music streaming service Genie, for 26.7 billion won  ($23 million) at a board meeting. With the acquisition, LG Uplus has become the second-largest shareholder of the music company after KT.

On the same day, KT Music’s board of directors held its own meeting to approve the stake sale and change the company’s name to Genie Music.

KT CEO Hwang Chang-gyu (KT)

The partnership between the two mobile carriers signals that cooperation has begun within the telecommunication industry to expand the fledgling home IoT and AI service markets. Media content, such as music and movie, is considered one of key pillars of the new markets.

The two firms will seek collaboration on the supply and marketing of music content and also work together with the country’s leading entertainment agencies, S.M. Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, the companies said.

LG Uplus Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo (LG Uplus)

Uplus is focusing on its home IoT service centering on the company’s LG U+ IPTV service, while KT has been making efforts in the AI platform business, launching AI-based home speaker GiGA Genie in January.

“The two companies will try to combine their outstanding IoT and AI technologies in order to provide services that meet consumers’ satisfaction,” said KT CEO Hwang Chang-gyu.

LG Uplus plans to introduce various music services to its subscribers this year, taking advantage of KT’s Genie service.

For LG Uplus, the partnership is also expected to support its plan to launch an AI-based platform in the second half of this year, which would be similar to KT’s GiGA Genie and SK Telecom’s AI speaker NUGU.

“The company decided to make the investment in order to offer better content for our subscribers and refrain from wasteful competition in the industry,” said LG Uplus Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)

Foreign ownership of South Korean stocks reached a fresh high this week with offshore investors owning more than 50 percent in dozens of listed companies, data showed Thursday.

Foreign investors held 523.1 trillion won ($463 billion) worth of local stocks traded on the main bourse and secondary KOSDAQ market as of Wednesday, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service and the bourse operator Korea Exchange.

Except for November, offshore investors have been in a net buying mode since February last year, buoyed by such positives as improving corporate earnings, the undervaluation of local stocks and hopes for stimulus down the road.

Foreign stock ownership has been renewing all-time highs nearly daily since December, with the value topping the 500 trillion-won mark early this year.

As of end-February, foreign ownership was equivalent to 31.8 percent of the total capitalization of all listed stocks.

According to the data, foreign investors owned more than 50 percent of 36 companies traded on both bourses as of Wednesday, up four from the end of 2015.

Of the total, 24 companies are listed on the main stock market, with the remainder registered with the tech-heavy secondary bourse.

The firms include such large caps as tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. (50.72 percent), leading steelmaker POSCO (55.07 percent), Shinhan Financial Group (67.82 percent) and KB Financial Group (64.51 percent).

Foreign investors had the highest 92.22 percent stake in US cosmetics maker Englewood Lab, followed by Korea Ratings with 83.3 percent and Hankuk Glass Industries Co. with 80.68 percent.

Offshore investors’ ownership of foreign companies listed here ranged from 60 percent to 70 percent, with their stake in Chinese toymaker Heng Sheng Holding Group the highest at 75.07 percent. (Yonhap)

Source: The Korea Herald > Business > Finance