Disney reportedly offered controlling stake in Nexon
Search for a buyer continues as Korean publisher's founder meets with high-ranking Disney exec
Disney may be the preferred buyer as Nexon prepares to sell a controlling stake.
The Korea Herald, citing local daily news outlet JoongAng Ilbo, reports that founder Kim Jung-ju directly approached a high-ranking Disney representative to discuss a possible acquisition.
Jung-ju announced earlier this year that he was planning to sell a 98.64% stake in the company, which currently belongs to him, his wife and various other related parties.
Bidding was due to begin in early April, with the stake expected to fetch as much as 15 trillion won ($13.3 billion).
Disney has previously been named among parties interested in purchasing the stake, alongside Electronic Arts, Activision, Tencent, Amazon and Comcast.
Meanwhile, fellow Korean publisher Netmarble formed a consortium of local companies in an effort to keep control of Nexon within its home market.
Shortlisted bidders were revealed back in March, and included Tencent, Kakao, the MBK Partners consortium with Netmarble, Bain Capital and an unidentified foreign company.