Daily Brief Financials: Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200, AGBA Group Holding , Ethereum and more

• Chosun reports Korean financial authorities advance Value-up plan guidelines to May 2nd, citing momentum decline post-election. Chosun’s credibility enhances report validity.
• Companies will commence Value-up-related disclosures in alignment with the guidelines within May. A dedicated Value-up website is set to launch in May.
• The May 2nd guideline release date is crucial for Value-up momentum trading. Anticipate heightened volatility in Value-up stocks approaching this date.

On 18 April, AGBA announced a surprise deal to acquire 100% of Triller Corp, a global AI-driven social video platform, in an all-stock transaction. Triller is privately-owned but has been independently valued at US$3.2bn. AGBA’s management is using a US$4bn valuation for the combined entity, in which AGBA shareholders will own 20% and Triller shareholders 80%. Triller recorded FY23 revenues of US$45m on 450m user accounts and 2.2m creators but is loss-making. In FY23, AGBA reported revenues of US$54m and 400,000+ clients. The combined group expects synergies from expanding and marketing to Triller’s users and utilizing Triller’s AI, natural language processing (NLP) technology and digital marketing capabilities to drive growth in its Asian investment advisory business and fintech investments.

• Every day, 32.5 million Ether, valued at more than $100 billion, are used as collateral to verify transactions, propose blocks, and protect the Ethereum blockchain from external attacks by acting as validators.
• These Ethereum validators consequently hold substantial influence over the network.
• To manage this influence wielded by Ethereum stakers, the network has the capability to slash validators.