Nowcom (KRX: 026330) founded in 1994, was a South Korean IT Company. From 2011 until early 2024, this corporate entity changed its name to AfreecaTV Co., Ltd (KRX: 067160) after the AfreecaTV Co., Ltd-ZettaMedia split. in 2024, AfreecaTV changed its name to SOOP Co., Ltd, as a way to get ready for international expansion.[2]

Nowcom
Company typePublic (KRX: 026330)
(until 2011)
Public (KRX: 067160)(present)
IndustryContent delivery network, video games, Media industry
Founded1994
Defunct2011
FateDivided into AfreecaTV Co., Ltd. and ZettaMedia
HeadquartersGyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
Key people
ex-CEO Yong-sik Moon[1]
ProductsAfreeca, TalesRunner, O2Jam, ClubBox, Nownuri
Number of employees
300
Websitenowcom.co.kr(former)
zettamedia.co.kr(present)
corp.afreecatv.com(present)

The first service of Nowcom in South Korea was Nownuri which is VT-based online BBS started in 1994 and currently they operate Afreeca, SOOP Live TalesRunner, O2Jam and ClubBox as well as Nownuri.

Nowcom was merged by Wins Technet, a listed IT company, at January 2008 and listed on KOSDAQ with its original name though and worked together for 3 years, but finally they have been separated again to two companies as they were. Nowcom is still listed on KOSDAQ.

In July 2011, Nowcom announced that its assets would be split into one publicly traded company and the other privately held company.[3] Another firm known as ZettaMedia was also established at that date and is a new spin-off company created during the split.

Services

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  • Afreeca: Korean Online TV with P2P video streaming service. Users can upload their own videos as well as live video streams.[4]
  • SOOP Live: Overseas version of AfreecaTV.[2][5]
  • TalesRunner: Racing video game
  • O2Jam: Music video game
  • ClubBox: Web storage service for any internet community
  • Nownuri: Classic VT BBS
  • NOWCDN: CDN service for massive file distribution such as game clients

Split

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In July 2011, Nowcom announced that, after concerns from business differences between AfreecaTV and ClubBox, Nowcom's assets would be split into one publicly traded company, one oriented towards webcasting and online game development, and the other privately held company towards contents, media, and web storage. The split formally took place on July, 2011; where the present Nowcom was renamed AfreecaTV Co., Ltd. and consists primarily of Afreeca, TalesRunner, and O2Jam, while a new ZettaMedia was formed to take on Nownuri, PDBox, and ClubBox.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Shinsegae, Nowcom heads face off on Twitter" (Press release). The Korea Herald. 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  2. ^ a b "AfreecaTV to change its stock name from AfreecaTV to SOOP on March 23rd". Maeil Business Newspaper. 2024-04-20. Archived from the original on 2024-05-16. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
  3. ^ "제타미디어". www.zettamedia.co.kr. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20.
  4. ^ Limb Jae-un (24 October 2006). "Online broadcasters share their passion with viewers". Joongang Daily. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  5. ^ "Why is AfreecaTV outperforming Naver, Kakao?". Korea Times. 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
  6. ^ "Nowcom Will Create "ZettaMedia" for Web Storage Business". Digital Daily. 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
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