It is expected that the online video service (OTT) Watcha, which is suffering from financial difficulties, is in contact with individual investors.
In fact, it is reported that he is intended to acquire other OTT companies. At this time, SK Telecom and Coupang are being discussed.
According to the industry on the 17th, Watcha is recruiting funds in various ways, including how to borrow money from individual investors. In addition, it is intended to take over by contacting domestic OTT companies. It is judged that large-scale funds are needed to survive in the OTT industry, where economies of scale are intensifying.
Earlier this month, Watcha prepared a free IPO of 100 billion won, but the market interest rate soared and braking. Investors have asked Watcha to achieve the breakeven point (BEP), and Watcha is reorganizing its business in order to improve the deficit.
** ■ Watcha, who is recruiting funds centered on individual investors,
Park Tae-hoon, CEO of Watcha, has recently met with individual investors and is recruiting funds in various ways. Personal investment conditions are given the authority to participate in Watcha's paid-in capital increase.
An industry official who participated in Watcha's private investment said, We still participated in the investment without thinking about Watcha's value because it is still in a situation where it is not possible to increase the capital increase. I explained.
Watcha plans to fuel urgent funds and attract institutional investments in the future through private investment. However, the industry believes that it is difficult to find a way by attracting investment. This is because the bleeding competition in the OTT industry is intensifying to secure content. An official in the investment bank (IB) industry said, The time to hold on with short-term funding is limited.
Domestic OTT companies except Whatcha are based on huge capital. The wave operator content wave is the largest shareholder with a 36.4%stake in SK Square, and Teabing has CJ ENM and the season as the parent company. Coupang Play is directly operated by Kupang.
An official from the industry said, The OTT industry has already become a capital fight because it needs a huge capital to secure the original content and secure the contents. It's not easy to find a pointed number to overcome the situation.
Due to the bleeding competition due to the strengthening of content, major domestic OTTs are also recording a deficit. Last year, Wave recorded operating losses of W55.8bn and Teabing's W76.6bn. Watcha also recorded sales of W70.8bn and operating loss of 24.8 billion won last year.
■ SKT, Kupang, and Watcha's main candidates
The industry believes that SK Telecom is likely to acquire Watcha. This is because SK Telecom's affiliates are likely to create synergy between content waves and Watcha. Recently, Teabing merged with the season and is likely to rise to the No. 1 OTT in Korea, and it was time for Wave to need a pointed room.
According to the mobile index, the number of monthly active users (MAUs) of Wave, Tea, Season, and Watcha in June is 4.24 million, 4.41 million, 1.57 million, and 1080,000, respectively. If you simply combine the users of Teabing and the season, it is 558 million, which is about 1 million ahead of the wave. For Wave, if you absorb Watcha's subscribers, you can fight back to Teabing and season.
Coupang is also being mentioned as a major candidate for Watcha. Coupang has recently strengthened its investment to strengthen its competitiveness in the OTT industry. Coupang decided that OTT was needed to increase the effect of the e-commerce subscriber, and invested 100 billion won last year.
However, Watcha and candidates are denied selling and acquisitions. An official of the industry said, In order for domestic OTTs to be competitive in the global market, discussions such as acquisition and merger will intensify in the medium and long term.
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