Can a simple children’s song really grow into a company valued at more than $100 million? Well that’s exactly what happened with South Korea’s Pinkfong! But how did a tiny digital-content start-up with only three employees turn into a company worth hundreds of millions in under a decade?Well the story starts long back with a tiny Seoul office where three people worked without knowing whether they would even get paid. One of them, Kim Min-seok, now looks back at that early setup and laughs at how small the room was. “The office was tiny – even smaller than this,” he said, explaining to the BBC team that they “didn’t even expect a salary at the time”.Now, more than a decade later, the same company has listed its shares on South Korea’s stock market. On Tuesday, its debut saw the stock climb over 9%, pushing Pinkfong’s value past $400m (£304m). It is a remarkable jump for a business that originally made digital content simply to entertain children up to the age of 12.The turning point came from something Kim approved without much thought: a 90-second video uploaded in June 2016. That video was Baby Shark, the children’s song now watched more than 16 billion times on YouTube, giving it the title of the platform’s most viewed video ever.“We didn’t expect it to stand out from our other content,” he told the BBC from Pinkfong’s headquarters. “But looking back, it became a major turning point that set the stage for our global journey.”
A song older than the company itself
While the viral version belongs to Pinkfong, the tune itself is believed to date back to US summer camps in the 1970s. Media analyst Kevin Chew describes the modern recording’s repetitive line, “Baby shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,” as something “attractive for children, though possibly annoying for adults”.Kim agrees the tune has a strange power. “It’s like a K-pop song. It’s very fast-paced, rhythmical and it’s addictive,” he said. He believes the melody’s “chanting” feel makes it easy for young children to remember.
The Baby shark effect
The Baby Shark clip did not go viral immediately. Its rise began only after the dance routine was picked up at kids’ events in South East Asia. Once videos of children and adults dancing started circulating online, views climbed rapidly. Kim remembers the mood in the office changing overnight: “festival-like,” he said, as they watched the numbers jump in real time.By November 2020, it became the most viewed video on YouTube, and for several years it brought in around half of Pinkfong’s total revenue. The company soon expanded its characters, merchandise and content catalogue.
Growing pains and legal battles
Success also came with challenges. In 2019, an American composer accused Pinkfong of plagiarism. The company argued its version was based on a public-domain folk song. South Korea’s Supreme Court eventually rejected the claim, a decision Kim described as uplifting, though Pinkfong had filed its stock listing application before the verdict.
More than Baby Shark?
Now, Pinkfong has grown far beyond its initial three-person team. It now has around 340 employees and offices in Tokyo, Shanghai and Los Angeles. The firm rebranded itself in 2022 as The Pinkfong Company, taking the name from the cheerful pink fox character that first appeared in its early content.Yet the company now faces a question many investors are asking: can it avoid being seen as a one-hit wonder?Korea University’s Min Jung Kim says its main advantage is its target audience, toddlers, who tend to watch the same content repeatedly. Still, she believes the company must prove that other characters can match Baby Shark’s reach.Baby Shark currently accounts for about a quarter of Pinkfong’s revenue, while another franchise, Bebefinn, now makes up roughly 40%.Parents’ reactions vary too. Saleem Nashef, a father of two told the BBC that he appreciates the learning elements in Pinkfong videos, though his wife thinks Baby Shark is “too over-stimulating for kids”. Their daughter, nearly three, remains a fan regardless, her upcoming birthday will be Baby Shark-themed.
What the company plans next
Pinkfong raised almost $52m from its stock market debut. Kim said the company will use the funds to expand its characters and films, with a goal of becoming a “tech-driven” creator using viewing data to shape its projects.For now, Kim insists the company’s future will not be limited by its biggest hit. Pinkfong, he said, has already achieved “what many creators have always dreamed of”. The next chapter is proving that lightning can strike again.
