RIDI ended up hiring dozens of comic artists and produced over 100 webtoons. The company had to either re-create all of the comics or produce new material. RIDI’s first undertaking in the content market was comic books, but scanning printed comics and uploading them for mobile viewing was challenging due to their poor readability after scanning. He believed that he could foster a strong content business as long as he could secure valuable IPs. Bae had just recently left Samsung Electronics Co.’s venture investment team and was determined to be a first mover in the emerging industry.Ĭonfident that the content market would experience vast growth amid the mobile era, Bae decided to launch a content business. Pioneering the domestic e-book marketĪfter establishing RIDI in 2008, Bae was a bit anxious to stake a strong claim in the content market because Apple had just introduced the iPhone to the world and he had a strong hunch it was the dawning of a new mobile era.“This is only the beginning of RIDI’s growth story,” said Bae. In 2020, while kicking off its global expansion plans, RIDI also forayed into the webtoon market. From the very beginning, Bae had envisioned building a global content company backed by a rich intellectual property portfolio of content, rather than an e-book company.Īnd web novels only marked the beginning of Bae’s plan to expand the IP business. But it was the expected course of events for Bae Ki-sik, the founder and chief executive of RIDI. Industry watchers were floored by RIDI’s transformation. In the first half of 2018, RIDI’s numbers of new subscribers jumped by 195% compared to the year-earlier period. The company also adopted a mobile-exclusive format and structured web novel plots that moved at a faster pace, which were a huge hit. Instead of releasing the original content as complete e-books, RIDI opted for an episode format: a new episode would be uploaded every week. RIDI created original web novels in collaboration with authors who had already worked with the company. In 2018, after enjoying a decade of great success as an e-book platform, RIDI introduced a new service on its platform – web novels. 1 position even as competitors entered the segment. Founded in 2008, the company pioneered the country’s e-book market, holding the No. Encompassing e-books, web novels, webtoons and more

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