Nexon Co Ltd will elevate CFO Owen Mahoney to the post of CEO in March as the South Korean online gaming giant begins to aggressively explore U.S. acquisitions to further a long-standing plan to expand in Western markets. Mahoney will succeed chief executive Seungwoo Choi, who has led the company known for free-to-play PC games like combat title "Dungeons&Fighters" since 2008."We continue to believe that North America is a big, big opportunity for us," Mahoney told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.Mahoney, who before joining Nexon led mergers and acquisitions and business development at Electronic Arts Inc for about a decade, said his company would be open to using its cash balance to acquire games that would help it build a strong footprint in the West."We want more access to IP and want to be more successful in the West with the kinds of games that will resonate with Western tastes," Mahoney said. "But we're also prudent about what we do, so if we see a good opportunity we'll definitely go after it."
Electronic Arts Inc. develops, markets, publishes and distributes game software content and services that can be played by consumers on a variety of video game machines and electronic devices. Shares of EA traded higher by 1.64% or $0.45/share to $27.86. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $16.65 and as high as $28.13. On average, 6033640 shares of EA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3272963.
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