Nexon pays $685 million for 14.7 percent of NCsoft

Nexon is now a minority shareholder in MMO publisher NCsoft, having purchased 3.218 million shares of the company from NCsoft chairman/cofounder Taek Jin Kim to the tune of ₩804.5 billion ($685.43 millon) – 14.7 percent of total stock. This makes Nexon the largest shareholder in NCsoft, according to VentureBeat.

The purchase is part of a two-year agreement between the two South Korean game companies, though the specifics of said agreement remain shrouded in mystery. This announcement comes somewhat cooly on the heels of reports that claimed Nexon had designs to take over EA; reports that ended up being far less interesting than originally thought.

Update: Nexon has informed us that the deal was a "one-time purchase" and that they "have not made any announcements about any future plans."