Daou Kiwoom Named Preferred Bidder for Korean Publisher Munhakdongne

Daou Kiwoom Group has been named the preferred bidder to buy Munhakdongne, a leading South Korean literary publisher. Founder Kang Byung-sun told employees on the afternoon of October 23, Yonhap News Agency reported that evening. Hankyoreh confirmed the meeting with a senior company official.

Preferred-bidder status is not a closed sale. It is the exclusive-talks step. Yonhap says a Munhakdongne official told the wire that finishing a deal will take several months, and that shareholders have agreed to sell 100 percent of the company.

What Kang told the staff

Yonhap, citing people in publishing, says Kang, the largest shareholder, met employees that afternoon and said he had chosen Daou Kiwoom as the preferred negotiating party. His pen name is Kang Tae-hyung, and he is a poet, the wire notes. He said four companies had submitted letters of intent, and that he judged Daou Kiwoom to be the one that respects Munhakdongne's tradition and the value of a publishing company. Yonhap adds that he was reported to have stressed the group's intellectual-property business.

Hankyoreh says the meeting ran about an hour and fifty minutes. A senior Munhakdongne official told the paper: "오늘 (강 전 대표가 우선인수협상자를 다우키움그룹이라고) 발표하셨다." In PT's translation, that is "Today he announced it," with Hankyoreh inserting in parentheses that former chief executive Kang had named Daou Kiwoom Group as the preferred bidder.

Hankyoreh also reports that Kang had discussed a sale with six companies, and that he picked the preferred party from the four that filed letters of intent. It says he explained three conditions: respect for traditional publishing, plus the capacity to build an intellectual-property business that could widen literary publishing; respect for writers' rights and a willingness to do cultural work; and a guarantee of employees' rights, including editorial independence, along with better treatment. On those terms, the paper says, he selected Daou Kiwoom.

The shares

Yonhap, citing Munhakdongne's audit report, says Kang holds 41.5 percent, other shareholders hold 51.8 percent, and treasury stock is 6.7 percent. The shares outside his stake are spread among several holders, including editorial board members from the company's founding, the wire says. Yonhap estimates the price in the range of several hundred 억 won (수백억원). One 억 is 100 million won. The wire does not publish a signed price.

A writer who was an editorial board member at the founding, and who is one of the other shareholders, told Hankyoreh: "정해지면 그냥 따라가겠다는 입장을 취해 왔다." PT's translation: "I have taken the position that, once it is decided, I will simply go along."

Hankyoreh's calendar is a forecast, not a closing date the company has posted. The paper says that after a contract and due diligence, the sale looks likely to be completed around February or March 2027.

Not a sale to an AI company, staff were told

On October 16, as a preferred bidder came into view, Kang posted an internal notice, Hankyoreh reports. The paper says the gist of that notice, as it was relayed, included two points. The first: "인공지능(AI) 기업에 매각되는 건 아니다. 지금까지 접촉한 기업 가운데 AI 관련은 없다." PT's translation: "This is not a sale to an artificial-intelligence company. Among the companies contacted so far, none are AI-related." The second: "이번 매각이 문학인과 문학동네 사람들에게 좋은 일이 되어야 한다는 게 무조건의 전제 조건이다." PT's translation: "An unconditional premise is that this sale should be a good thing for writers and for the people of Munhakdongne." Hankyoreh is reporting the gist of an internal notice. PT has not seen the notice itself.

Hankyoreh also reports that Kim So-young, a current co-chief executive, opposed the sale and on October 19 said she would step down. The paper says unease among the staff is serious.

Who the bidder is

Daou Kiwoom is a group built on Daou Technology, which Hankyoreh says was founded in 1986. Its businesses run through information technology, finance, content, and operations abroad. Daou Technology and Kiwoom Securities are among the main affiliates. On the content side it owns the webtoon and web-novel companies KidariStudio and Lezhin Entertainment, which both Yonhap and Hankyoreh note. If a Munhakdongne deal closes, Yonhap says, a strategy that joins "literary IP" to that webtoon and web-novel business would become possible.

The same group is already the preferred bidder for control of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. Hankyoreh reports that Daou Kiwoom formed a consortium with CJ Group, was named preferred bidder for the paper on October 19, and that Shinsegae joined the consortium afterward. Yonhap also describes the newspaper bid as a consortium with CJ and Shinsegae. The newspaper talks and the publisher talks are separate. Together they would put a webtoon group beside a national daily and a major literary list.

The house

Munhakdongne was founded in 1993. Yonhap calls it a leading domestic publisher of Nobel literature laureate Han Kang and of other writers who represent Korean literature, and says revenue has stayed in the 300억-won range. Last year, both Yonhap and Hankyoreh report, revenue was 369억 won and operating profit was 71억 won. At 100 million won to the 억, those figures are 36.9 billion won in revenue and 7.1 billion won in operating profit. Hankyoreh calls Munhakdongne the country's top literary publisher and says it changed the shape of Korean literary publishing in this century.

Why it matters for writers

A house that publishes a Nobel laureate is in exclusive talks with a group whose content business is webtoons and web novels. The founder has told staff, according to these two reports, that editorial independence and writers' rights were conditions of the choice, and that the buyer is not an AI company. None of that is a signed contract. The new facts on October 23 are the name of the preferred bidder, the full-sale agreement as it was described to employees, and the months of negotiation still ahead.

Sources

• Yonhap News Agency, October 23, 2026: 다우키움그룹, 중앙일보 이어 문학동네 인수 추진…우선협상대상자 선정
• Hankyoreh, October 23, 2026: 다우키움그룹, 중앙일보 이어 '1위 출판' 문학동네도 품나…우선협상대상자로