[THE INVESTOR] Sandbox Network, one of Korea’s top YouTube management companies, is eying an IPO within the next couple of years, according to a top executive.

“We are looking at the year 2021 or 2022 to go public,” Sandbox CEO Lee Pil-sung said in a recent interview with The Investor. “According to our analysis, we believe we will grow big enough to float our shares by that time. 

To help reach this goal, Sandbox Network is aiming to stabilize its business by generating revenue of 50 billion won (US$44.23 million) this year, with an operating loss rate of around 5 percent. Last year, sales stood at 28 billion won, while its operating loss rate was at 10 percent.

“We have wanted to go public since the very beginning,” Lee said. “Being listed implies that a company has the capability to achieve sustainable growth, and it also comes with a certain amount of social responsibly, so I believe any decent corporation should go public.”

Established in June 2015, Sandbox Network is the managing company for popular YouTubers including Dotty, who is also the company’s chief creative officer, with over 2.2 million subscribers.

“We saw some profits in the first two years of our business. But from 2017 we started to slip into the red because we started to aggressively inject money to meet the fast-growing and constantly changing demands and environment,” he said.

For more synergies and steady growth, the company has been diversifying its business portfolio. In 2018, it launched e-sports club Sandbox Gaming, which manages e-sport players.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)