PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩0 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
The Pinkfong Company has recovered profitability with operating margins in the 19-21% range in 2024-2025 after a 2023 loss, but core content and license revenue remains stagnant, making new ventures such as Moonshark and the DDP exhibition the key growth variables to watch.
2025 consolidated revenue reached KRW 93.9 billion with operating profit of KRW 19.4 billion (20.6% margin), a full recovery from the 2023 operating loss.
Owner net income surged to KRW 21.5 billion in 2Q26, while operating profit was only KRW 2.7 billion, suggesting a large non-operating or financial income contribution.
Core content revenue has shown a decline in the overseas segment, making the deceleration of the Baby Shark and Pinkfong IP a key variable to watch in coming results.
New ventures are expanding in parallel, including the virtual-artist IP Moonshark, the AI interactive exhibition at DDP, a Japanese theatrical release, and an Amazon Kids+ partnership.
Repeated lock-up releases since listing have weighed on share supply-demand, and the company currently pays no dividend.
The Pinkfong Company was founded in 2010 as Smartstudy and renamed to its current name in 2021, operating as a character-IP-based content and entertainment company built around Pinkfong, Baby Shark, and Bebefinn.
Its business is divided into a content segment producing video, music, apps and live shows, a license segment connecting IP to other business areas, a merchandise/commerce segment, and other segments including game development.
Based on 2024 figures, revenue mix was 61.5% content, 15.2% license, 15.3% merchandise/commerce, and 7.9% other, with content accounting for more than half of sales. As of 2025, overseas revenue represented roughly 68% of the total, reflecting a structure far more dependent on global sales than domestic demand.
Its flagship IP, Baby Shark, holds several of the world's most-viewed YouTube videos, with one clip surpassing 17 billion cumulative views and holding the global number-one spot on YouTube for 69 consecutive months.
More recently, the company has been expanding its newer Bebefinn IP into musicals, animation and toys, while growing Moonshark, a teen-idol-audition spinoff of the Baby Shark universe, into a virtual-artist business.
Competitively, global character and content companies such as Sanrio, Kadokawa and Toei Animation are cited as comparables, while domestically the company competes with various animation and kids-content firms in export markets. The company listed on KOSDAQ on November 18, 2025.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩21B | ₩2.9B | 13.6% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩23B | ₩3.7B | 16.0% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩25.7B | ₩6.7B | 26.1% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩20.7B | ₩2.9B | 14.2% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩21.7B | ₩2.7B | 12.2% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩117B | ₩3.7B | -₩62,167,798 | 3.2% | −0.1% | 69.2% |
| 2023 | ₩94.6B | -₩3.2B | -₩16.3B | −3.4% | −19.0% | 53.0% |
| 2024 | ₩97.4B | ₩18.8B | ₩7.9B | 19.3% | 8.5% | 38.4% |
| 2025 | ₩93.9B | ₩19.4B | ₩18.2B | 20.6% | 9.9% | 10.7% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-09-04
Annual revenue fell sharply from KRW 116.96 billion in 2022 to KRW 94.63 billion in 2023, when the company swung to an operating loss of KRW 3.22 billion and an owner net loss of KRW 16.34 billion.
In 2024, revenue recovered modestly to KRW 97.37 billion, operating profit improved sharply to KRW 18.81 billion (19.3% margin), and owner net income turned positive at KRW 7.94 billion.
In 2025, revenue declined slightly again to KRW 93.86 billion, yet operating profit actually rose to KRW 19.36 billion (20.6% margin) and owner net income jumped to KRW 18.16 billion, pointing to an improvement in earnings quality.
On a quarterly basis, 2Q25 posted revenue of KRW 21.04 billion, operating profit of KRW 2.85 billion, and an owner net loss of KRW 1.46 billion, before improving through 3Q25 (revenue KRW 22.96 billion, operating profit KRW 3.68 billion, net income KRW 6.81 billion) and 4Q25 (revenue KRW 25.72 billion, operating profit KRW 6.72 billion, net income KRW 7.50 billion).
However, 1Q26 revenue slipped back to KRW 20.65 billion and operating profit to KRW 2.94 billion, which brokerage research attributed largely to a year-on-year decline in content revenue, particularly overseas sales.
In 2Q26, revenue of KRW 21.70 billion and operating profit of KRW 2.66 billion held at a similarly moderate level, yet owner net income jumped sharply to KRW 21.53 billion.
The recurring gap between operating profit and net income across recent quarters suggests that much of the recent net income growth may stem from non-operating or financial items rather than the core business.
The global kids and family content market operates through a mix of free platform viewing on services like YouTube and paid OTT/app subscriptions, where competitiveness is determined by IP reach and multi-channel monetization across licensing, merchandise, and offline experiences.
Large overseas character and content companies such as Sanrio, Kadokawa, and Toei Animation are cited as comparables; while smaller in scale, the company differentiates itself through a handful of IPs with globally record-setting YouTube viewership.
Recently, character-IP companies have visibly broadened beyond online video and music into offline and experience-based businesses such as virtual artists and AI interactive exhibitions.
According to market research estimates, the global virtual idol and virtual streamer market was valued at roughly USD 2.27 billion in 2025 and is projected to expand significantly over the next decade, with combining characters with music and narrative to build fandom emerging as a new monetization model.
Domestically, industry-wide export competition is intensifying, as seen in events such as the Kids Screen Summit supported by the Korea Creative Content Agency, where local animation and kids-content companies actively pursue overseas export deals.
The KOSDAQ entertainment and culture sector to which the company belongs is composed largely of smaller-cap names, making individual company events such as new-content hits or overseas partnerships a significant source of share price volatility.
The company is accelerating its push into the Japanese market, with a Bebefinn theatrical animation released for the first time in Japanese cinemas through a partnership with local distributor Kadokawa.
It has agreed with Amazon Kids+ to produce an 18-episode original animated series using the Bebefinn IP, and is preparing a new co-produced animation with Japanese terrestrial broadcaster TV Asahi, broadening its global content distribution network.
The world-first Baby Shark AI interactive exhibition running at Seoul's DDP will continue through December, after which the company plans to accumulate visitor data and consider exporting either the full exhibition or modularized experience content overseas.
The virtual-artist IP Moonshark is set to roll out a continuous stream of new music content through year-end starting with a music video release, and will participate in AGF, one of Japan's largest subculture festivals, in November to pursue overseas distribution channels.
Separately, the person who appeared in the original Baby Shark exercise video has launched a debut digital single under the name Baby Shark Boy, starting an artist project that links the IP with a real person's growth narrative.
Through a partnership with KT, the company has also launched a Baby Shark-themed home camera product, extending its licensing business into the smart-home hardware space.
While these new channels beyond core content and licensing—offline experiences, virtual artists, and smart-home collaborations—are diversifying, it will likely take time before they represent a meaningful share of the overall revenue structure.
The recent sharp rise in net income appears to stem largely from non-operating factors, warranting caution in extrapolating current earnings multiples going forward.
From a price-to-book perspective, the shares have moved between discount and premium ranges relative to net assets, and repeated lock-up releases since listing have been cited as a recurring drag on share supply-demand.
The company currently pays no dividend, meaning its valuation character leans more toward IP growth potential and new-business expansion than dividend appeal.
The shift from a 2023 operating loss to profitability in 2024-2025, with expanding earnings, marks a clear directional improvement, but core content and license revenue itself remains stagnant or softening, leaving the durability of the earnings recovery as something to be confirmed through upcoming quarterly results.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-09-04
Having posted an operating loss in 2023, the company achieved operating margins in the 19-21% range in both 2024 and 2025, improving its profit structure. Owner net income also swung from a large loss in 2023 to profitability in 2024 and expanded further in 2025. This suggests cost and expense efficiencies are progressing even as revenue has stagnated.
The company's core IP maintains overwhelming global recognition, exemplified by the Baby Shark exercise video surpassing 17 billion views and holding the global number-one YouTube spot for 69 consecutive months.
Building on this, the company is expanding theatrical and broadcast content in Japan with Kadokawa and TV Asahi, and is preparing a new animated series with Amazon Kids+. Recycling proven IP assets across multiple channels through an OSMU structure can provide a stable revenue foundation.
New revenue sources beyond content and licensing are being tested in parallel, including the virtual-artist IP Moonshark, the world-first AI interactive exhibition at DDP, and a smart-home collaboration with KT.
The DDP exhibition was designed with multilingual support in mind for overseas export, and if successful could serve as a springboard for expanding the offline experience business abroad.
Moonshark can also be read as a strategy to capture a teen-and-older consumer base that does not overlap with the company's existing infant and toddler audience.
Annual revenue plummeted from KRW 116.96 billion in 2022 to KRW 94.63 billion in 2023 and has since remained in the KRW 97 billion and KRW 94 billion range in 2024-2025, failing to recover to 2022 levels.
In 1Q26, content revenue declined by double digits year-on-year, with brokerage research noting a particularly sharp drop in overseas sales. With core IP revenue stagnant and new-business contributions still limited, questions remain about the growth narrative.
Both 1Q26 and 2Q26 saw operating profit remain at levels below the prior year, while net income rose sharply, suggesting non-operating factors may have driven the net income increase.
Notably, 2Q26 owner net income of KRW 21.5 billion was roughly eight times the KRW 2.66 billion operating profit for the same period, warranting careful scrutiny of whether the net income gain reflects genuine core-business improvement.
Because non-operating gains may not recur every quarter, caution is warranted in assessing the sustainability of results.
Repeated lock-up releases since listing have been cited as a factor hindering share price recovery, and the relatively large proportion of freely tradable shares shortly after listing was also a burden. The company currently pays no dividend, limiting its shareholder-return appeal. As a relatively small-cap stock, it is also prone to significant price volatility around individual events.
A substantial share of revenue depends on a small number of core IPs such as Pinkfong and Baby Shark, so any decline in their popularity, or failure of newer IPs like Bebefinn and Moonshark to gain traction as expected, could directly affect results. The newer IPs are still at a stage where their revenue contribution has not yet been proven at scale.
The company must compete with large global character and content companies such as Sanrio, Kadokawa, and Toei Animation, while domestically numerous animation and kids-content firms also compete in export markets.
The virtual-artist market is likewise being reshaped by competition between motion-capture-based live-performance groups and character-based artists, creating competitive pressure in this new business area as well.
With overseas revenue accounting for roughly 68% of the total as of 2025, the company's structure is highly exposed to currency fluctuations and changes in overseas platform and distribution policies.
Given that overseas content revenue has declined in a recent quarter, demand slowdowns in specific regional markets or changes in partnership renewal terms warrant continued monitoring for their impact on results.
The 3Q26 earnings release should be checked for whether content and overseas revenue rebound and whether the gap between operating profit and net income narrows.
Results and reception from Moonshark's participation in Japan's largest subculture festival, AGF, for overseas distribution should be monitored.
Visitor data accumulated through the end of the Seoul DDP AI interactive exhibition should be checked to see how it informs the decision and method for overseas export.
It should be monitored whether Moonshark's planned continuous music and content releases proceed as scheduled, and whether new fandom traction translates into revenue.
The Pinkfong Company has recovered from its 2023 operating loss to post operating margins in the 19-21% range in 2024-2025, yet its core content and license revenue has failed to return to 2022 levels and remains stagnant or decelerating.
Since the start of 2026, operating profit has run below prior-year levels while net income has surged on non-operating factors, a pattern that warrants close attention to earnings quality.
The company is simultaneously pursuing new growth avenues beyond content and licensing, including the virtual-artist project Moonshark, the AI exhibition at DDP, expansion into Japan through Kadokawa, TV Asahi and Amazon Kids+, and a smart-home collaboration with KT.
However, it will take time before these new ventures represent a meaningful share of the revenue structure, and repeated lock-up releases since listing have been cited as a burden on share supply-demand.
With no dividend currently paid, the stock's character leans toward an IP-growth and new-business-expansion story rather than shareholder returns. The upcoming 3Q26 results and the progress of Japanese and other overseas new ventures will be important variables in gauging the direction of future performance.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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