Advertising agency Directors Company takes over database firm Bitnine

By Nam Hyun-woo

Directors Company, a Seoul-based advertising agency, said Thursday it completed the acquisition of Bitnine, a KOSDAQ-listed firm specializing in hybrid database solutions, as part of the company’s ambition to enhance capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI)-based video production and marketing software.

According to Directors Company, the two sides completed their transactions involving rights issues on Friday and appointed Jegal Wan, chief financial officer of Directors Company, as managing director of Bitnine, a position similar to CEO, to oversee new business initiatives and financial restructuring at Bitnine.

Through the acquisition, Directors Company seeks to integrate Bitnine’s hybrid solutions combining relational and graph databases into its generative AI-based advertising business.

Directors Company is known as the parent company for Directors Tech, which created headlines last month for acquiring SKAIWORKS, an AI advertising technology firm that won the LVMH Innovation Award for its AI-based photorealistic video advertisements, which they were able to create without traditional filming. SKAIWORKS is now a partner of over 500 global brands, including luxury leaders such as Bvlgari, Givenchy and Hublot.

“The merger between Directors Company and Bitnine will be a model case of demonstrating the commercial viability of AI technologies,” Directors Company CEO Shin Jae-hyuk said. “We expect the merger will be an important stepping stone for our ambition to become a leading AI agent enterprise in the global market.”