이 기사는 2022년 02월 23일 07시44분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Entertainment giant CJ ENM's streaming service Tving has grown rapidly, with its valuation surging to 2 trillion won ($1.67 billion) from 350 billion won in July 2021.

Tving said in its regulatory filing on Friday that it will raise 250 billion won through a capital increase. A total of 382,513 new shares will be acquired by a special purpose vehicle established by financial investor JC Growth Investment. Payment will be made on February 25.

The valuation of the streamer has increased by six times in just seven months. CJ ENM said during its recent conference call that Tving is in talks with potential partners like Line Corp about its entry into the global market. The company is discussing business plans with global studios and production companies including Paramount.

CJ ENM has joined forces with the country’s tech giant Naver through a stock-swap agreement. Naver started to stream Tving’s originals to subscribers who upgrade their Naver Plus membership.

“Both companies are satisfied with the results of the partnership over the past year, and the partnership is expected to continue for a long time,” said an official at CJ ENM.

CJ ENM, Tving and Hyundai Motor Group signed a strategic partnership to provide originals of Tving on the automaker’s connected-car service. New smart TV models rolled out by Samsung Electronics will have a Tving button on a remote control so that customers can access the service more easily. Tving had more than 2 million paid subscribers as of the end of 2021 – nearly a threefold increase from late 2020 when CJ ENM started to accelerate investment in its streaming platform.

Apart from collaborations with the country’s conglomerates, Tving has strengthened competitiveness of its original contents. The streaming platform secured JTBC Studios as its investor and reached an investment deal with Naver in June 2021.

Tving recently raised $7 million in investment from U.S.-based Paramount as part of a global strategic partnership between CJ ENM and ViacomCBS at the end of last year.

ViacomCBS owns brands including CBS, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon, Smithsonian, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Tving and ViacomCBS will co-finance seven Tving original series including Yonder.

Tving plans to accelerate its investments, aiming to produce about 100 originals, secure more than 8 million subscribers and launch its service in major countries like Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. by 2023. (Reporting by Nu-ri Moon)