Kim Taek-jin Net Worth

Kim Taek-jin has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Kim Taek-jin profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is down from a peak of $2.9 billion.

Kim Taek-jin is a South Korean businessman and software engineer best known for founding NCSoft in 1997. Before that, he developed software that helped people practice typing in Korean while he was still a student at Seoul National University’s College of Engineering. He later worked at Hyundai Electronics, including at its R&D Center in Boston, and then led a division that launched South Korea’s first Internet access. Those early software and internet roles set up his next step in games.

His wealth comes from online games. NCSoft grew into South Korea’s No. 2 online game company and now offers game services in more than 60 countries. A major turning point came when NCSoft launched Lineage in 1998, which became very popular in South Korea and Taiwan. The company went public in 2003, and Kim still serves as CEO. Forbes puts his net worth at $1.3 billion on its real-time billionaires tracker as of October 20, 2026.

How Kim Taek-jin built his fortune

Kim Taek-jin made his name by building software and then turning to online games. In 1989, he jointly developed the Hangul word processor and was also a founder of Hanmesoft. After work at Hyundai Electronics in Boston and later in South Korea, he founded NCSoft in March 1997. The company’s business is online games, and Lineage gave it a major hit soon after launch. That success helped turn NCSoft into a large game company.

NCSoft is the core of his wealth. The company was listed on KOSDAQ in 2000 and became publicly traded in 2003. Kim later sold most of his NCSoft shares in 2012, but he still held just under 12% by 2024. Forbes describes him as self-made, and his fortune remains tied to the company he started. In 2024, Byungmoo Park joined him as co-CEO, while Kim stayed focused on the business he built.

Forbes net worth updates

Forbes has tracked Kim Taek-jin’s fortune through several swings. It estimated $1.7 billion in 2019, $1.8 billion in 2020, and $2.9 billion in 2021. After that, the estimate moved lower to $1.7 billion in 2022, $1.4 billion in 2023, and $1.1 billion in 2024. Because his wealth is connected to NCSoft, changes in the company’s value can have a big effect on those yearly Forbes estimates.

The more recent Forbes figures show another shift. Its 2025 billionaires list put him at $1 billion, and the 2026 list put him at $1.2 billion. Forbes later showed $1.3 billion on its real-time billionaires tracker in October 2026. Even after selling most of his shares in 2012, his stake in NCSoft still matters because he holds just under 12%, making the company the main source behind the estimate.