AmCham Korea focused on seeing non-tariff barriers resolved with the US: Chairman and CEO
James Kim, Chairman and CEO of AmCham Korea, shares the key takeaways from his conversations with U.S. trade officials and South Korean business leaders as Washington and Seoul chart a path towards a tariff deal.
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Columbus State Cougars making connections in South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (WRBL) – While most Columbus State University students aren't in class this summer, some students and CSU President Dr. Stuart Rayfield are in South Korea. In this foreign exchange program they are learning about South Korean culture first CSU contingent is spending 10 days in South Korea. Dr. Rayfield went to South Korea to look for new academic and economic opportunities with a focus on the country's direct investment in Georgia. South Korea is one of the top five investors in the Peach State. June 6th is also Korean Memorial Day. It's a holiday dedicated to honor the soldiers and civilians that died in war, specifically the Korean War. Dr. Rayfield says this trip and holiday underlines the importance of the partnership between the U.S. and South Korea. 'It really puts a lot into perspective how important our relationship is with South Korea,' Dr. Rayfield said. 'It's not just a military connection or relationship. It's an economic relationship. It's a cultural relationship. So being here today specifically and earlier this week they had their SNAP election. Just really felt a sense of pride in the community and a sense of love of country.' This is Dr. Rayfield's first time to visit South Korea, and she plans to meet up with the CSU students in South Korea this weekend. The CSU contingent plans to return back to the Fountain City on June 11th. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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10 hours ago
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K-pop giant plots $500M pivot that no one saw coming
K-pop giant plots $500M pivot that no one saw coming originally appeared on TheStreet. K Wave Media Ltd. (Nasdaq: KWM), a South Korean entertainment company, recently announced its plan to build a Bitcoin treasury. On June 4, the K-pop company announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with Bitcoin Strategic Reserve KWM LLC to sell up to $500 million of ordinary shares. The company, well-known for K-pop merchandising and K-entertainment investments, said it hopes to become the 'Metaplanet of Korea,' a Japanese Bitcoin treasury company that itself deployed the strategy of Michael Saylor's Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), the largest public corporate BTC holder, to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. K Wave Media said it will use the proceeds from the sale of these shares to support a "Bitcoin-centric digital asset treasury strategy." It did not specify which other cryptocurrencies it could acquire in the future to add to its account book. The K-Pop giant also said it plans to operate Bitcoin Lightning Network nodes and invest in infrastructure. The Bitcoin Lightning Network is a layer-2 payment protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain that facilitates fast, low-cost, and scalable transactions. The company also plans to invest in Bitcoin-native infrastructure to enhance decentralization so that there is no centralized control over payments. The company's stock, which debuted on Nasdaq on May 14, jumped more than 300% following the announcement on June 4 and reached its record high price of $6.17 on the day. At press time, KWM was trading at $3.6393. As per Kraken, Bitcoin was trading at $104,671.76 at press time. K-pop giant plots $500M pivot that no one saw coming first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 6, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Circle IPO leaves $1.72 billion on the table, seventh biggest underpricing in decades
Here we go again. Traditionally, IPOs are a great deal for Wall Street and its prized clients, not so much for the companies the investment banks take public. Those fabled outfits argue that if they price the shares for the underwriting low enough, so that the hedge and mutual funds and other financial institutions that subscribe get a big 'pop' the first day of trading, the grateful buyers will repay the favor by staying loyal and holding for the long term, providing a steadfast ownership base going forward. Whatever the real benefits of that arrangement may be to the issuer, it most often comes at an enormous cost. Though we haven't seen many IPOs, and hence much underpricing recently, we've just witnessed an outstanding case of the phenomenon in action. It's one for the ages, and specifically, this case's stunning dimensions exemplify the craziness that typifies the surreal Age of Crypto. On June 5, Circle Internet Group, issuer of the highly successful stablecoin USDC, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: CRCL). In the days prior, the deal team led by JP Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs sold 34 million shares to institutional purchasers at $31 per share. Hence, the offering raised $1.1 billion in cash that in its prospectus, Circle stated that it plans to deploy for 'investment in new products,' 'potential acquisitions,' and 'investment in expanding awareness.' By 1:00 PM, Circle (CRCL) had jumped to $95, and then drifted downwards to close at $82.84, still posting a 167% gain for the day. The rub: Circle could have piled more than twice as much into its treasury had it gotten full price. It appears that the $31 per share that Circle collected in the underwriting was nearly $52 less than what investors were willing to pay once its stock hit the open market. If Circle had pocketed the full $82.84 where its shares closed the day, it would have collected $2.82 billion instead of $1.1 billion. So the process led the crypto highflier to forego $1.72 billion that it could have added to its cash horde. In the annals of 'amounts left on the table' from IPOs, that $1.72 billion is big. Jay Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida and the world's leading expert on IPOs, told Fortune that the figure ranks seventh largest for all offerings since 1980. The underwriting versus first day price shortfall is only exceeded by the instances of Visa, Airbnb, Snowflake, Rivian, DoorDash, and Coupang (the South Korean e-commerce platform that sacrificed just a tad more on its 2021 outing at $1.85 billion). The $1.72 billion that went to first day gains for the Wall Street favorites and not to Circle is almost exactly twice the $849 million in cash that, as the prospectus disclosed, the USDC purveyor held on its balance sheet prior to the offer. At the market close, Circle's market cap sat at a towering $16.6 billion. That's gives Circle a PE of 106 based on its net earnings of $157 million in 2024, making it according to Ritter 'an incredibly expensive way to get exposure to cryptocurrencies.' He notes that Circle makes money by issuing USDC, on which it pays nothing to holders, and collects interest garnered by channeling the proceeds into what appear to be Treasuries and other 'safe' fixed income securities that as of Q1, were yielding around 4.2%. To grow into its big multiple, Circle needs to mint huge new quantities of the stablecoin so that its spread income rises at a rapid rate. 'It all depends if they can grow fast enough and get away without paying interest,' says Ritter. 'For that to happen, stablecoins would have to become a preferred way for people to make transactions. What if their coin turns out to be incredibly lucrative, which is what needs to happen given that PE? In that case, a competitor could come in and pay interest,' and grab a big chunk of the stablecoin market from Circle. Put simply, if competition rises and times get tough, Circle and its shareholders may sorely miss the extra almost $1.7 billion that went to first day gains for the underwriters' clients and not into it coffers. That's over ten-times its profits for last year. Considering the risks in the Circle business model that hinges on virtually creating a revolutionary new medium of exchange, losing that 'rainy day' cushion, what now seems a minor sacrifice amid all the hoopla, may someday loom large. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
