CJ ENM shares collapse from 430,000 won peak to 30,000 won range as bad news piles up

A view of CJ ENM's KCON JAPAN 2026 event. [Provided by CJ ENM]

"Tving leaked personal data." "I thought we'd hit the bottom." "The share price is absurd." — These were among the remarks from CJ ENM shareholders.

Shares of CJ ENM, once regarded as a pillar of the Korean entertainment industry, have tumbled to around 30,000 won ($22) after previously surpassing 430,000 won ($312).

A first-quarter earnings shock this year has been compounded by a recent personal data breach at Tving, leaving the company with a mounting pile of bad news. Anxiety is already running high among shareholders, particularly after Coupang Inc received a record fine from regulators over its own data leak.

According to Korea Exchange, CJ ENM shares closed Friday at 38,100 won ($28), well below their all-time high of 431,600 won ($313).

What makes the situation more painful is the absence of any near-term catalyst for recovery. The first-quarter earnings miss has been followed almost immediately by the Tving data breach, leaving investors with little to look forward to.

CJ ENM posted sales of 1.3297 trillion won ($964 million) and operating profit of 1.5 billion won ($1.1 million) in the first quarter, falling well short of market expectations.

A closer look at the breakdown makes the picture even grimmer. The media platform segment recorded an operating loss of 21.2 billion won ($15.4 million), with TV advertising sales contracting 20.7 percent despite growth in Tving subscribers.

Tving had been riding high on the record-breaking popularity of the Korea Baseball Organization league and was widely seen as a homegrown streaming contender. Now it has been hit by fresh trouble.

A personal data breach disclosed June 2 has put the company on high alert. Approximately 13 million Tving users are believed to have been affected. The leaked data includes names, user IDs, dates of birth, gender, mobile phone numbers, email addresses, refund account numbers, passwords, and online identity codes known as CI and DI.

CI, or connection information, is a unique identifier assigned to users who have completed identity verification — effectively functioning as an online equivalent of a resident registration number. If combined with other data obtained elsewhere, such as names, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses, it could enable secondary harm to affected users.

A CJ ONE integrated membership account affected by the Tving personal data breach. [Provided by a reader]

Shareholder concern has intensified after the Personal Information Protection Commission handed Coupang Inc a record fine of approximately 624.7 billion won ($453 million) over a separate data breach, prompting widespread concern about what penalty Tving might face.

Shareholders vented their anxiety in online forums, with comments including "After seeing the Coupang fine, there's no hope for this year," "I got the Tving text about the data leak and came straight here," and "How much will they have to spend compensating customers?"

ko@heraldcorp.com