Kim Taek-jin (; born March 14, 1967) is a South Korean businessman and

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

. He is co-chairman of video game developer

NCSoft NCSoft Corporation (stylized as NC, formerly stylized as NCSOFT; ) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher headquartered in Pangyo, Seongnam, South Korea, primarily known for the distribution of massively multiplayer online role-pl ...

, the second largest video game company in the country. He is among the richest people in South Korea. In December 2024,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

estimated his net worth to be

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

1 billion and ranked him 32nd richest in the country.

Biography

He was born on March 14, 1967 in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. He is the eldest of two sons and one daughter born to father Kim I-min () and Jang Sun-rye (). He graduated from Daeil High School in 1985. He studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

, where he received a bachelor's degree (1989) and master's degree (1991). He pursued a doctoral degree there as well, but dropped out of the program in 1997. In 1989, he jointly developed the Hangul word processor. He was a founder of software company Hanmesoft in 1989. From 1991 to 1992, to fulfill his mandatory military service, he worked in a

Hyundai Electronics SK Hynix Inc. () is a South Korean supplier of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips and flash memory chips. SK Hynix is one of the world's largest semiconductor vendors. Founded as Hyundai Electronics in 1983, SK Hynix was integrated into ...

R&D center in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, United States. From 1995 to 1996, he was a lead developer for Hyundai Electronics. After returning to South Korea, he founded one of the earliest South Korean web portals Aminet (). In March 1997, he founded NCSoft and has been its CEO ever since. In March 1998, NCSoft launched South Korea's first

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

game, Lineage. The game was immediately very popular in South Korea and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The success of the game led to NCSoft being listed on the South Korean stock exchange

KOSDAQ The Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ; ) is a trading board of Korea Exchange (KRX) in South Korea established in 1996. Initially set up by Korea Financial Investment Association as an independent stock market from the Korean ...

in July 2000. The company became publicly traded in 2003. In 2012, he sold most of his shares in the company to

Nexon Nexon Co., Ltd. (formerly ) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher. It develops and publishes titles including ''MapleStory'', ''Crazyracing Kartrider'', ''Sudden Attack'', ''Dungeon & Fighter'', ''The First Descendant'', and ''Bl ...

; by 2024 he held just under 12% of company shares. Forbes reported that Nexon sought increasingly more influence in the company over time, and by the 2020s was engaging in a battle to pressure the company to decrease the influence of Kim, his wife, and younger brother. His younger brother, Kim Taek-heon (), stepped down from his vice president position in the company in 2023. Byungmoo Park became co-CEO of the company in March 2024; they announced that Kim would focus on the game development and creative aspects of the company's portfolio, while Park would focus on the business aspects. In March 2011, he founded the professional baseball team

NC Dinos The NC Dinos () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Changwon. They are a member of the KBO League. Since 2019, their home stadium is Changwon NC Park. NC Dinos are owned by video game developer NCSoft Corporation. History On ...

. He has remained the team's owner since.

Personal life

He was married to a woman with the surname Jeon (), with whom they had two sons, but they divorced in November 2004. He gave her stocks worth

₩ The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean Empire won, Korean won. Appearance Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike ...

30 billion upon the divorce. He remarried to Songyee Yoon in November 2007, and they had two more sons together. In an interview, he claimed to go to bed very early (around 7 p.m.) and wake up very early (at midnight or 1 a.m.).

References

{{Reflist South Korean billionaires 1967 births Living people 21st-century South Korean businesspeople People from Seoul Seoul National University alumni NCSoft