Nexon Corp., a game developer being investigated for alleged stock gifts, had visibly increased its entertainment expenses at about the same time that the reported gifts were first given, a corporate analyzer said Tuesday.

The expenses increased from 92 million won ($80,000) in 2004 to 200 million won in 2005 and to 887 million won in the following year, according to the analysis by Chaebul.com, which tracks activities of South Korea's major companies. The figures were derived from the consolidated financial report by Nexon's holding company, NXC.

The game company came under scrutiny after prosecutor Jin Kyung-jun, who had to reveal his personal assets after being appointed to a senior government position in March, was found to have purchased Nexon's unlisted stocks in 2005 and pocketed some 12 billion won in profit by selling the shares in 2015 after they were listed on the Japanese market. Prosecution investigators suspect that Nexon had provided Jin with special favors by arranging the sale of unlisted shares.

Prosecutors on Tuesday raided the NXC and the homes of Jin and NXC chief Kim Jung-ju in connection with the ongoing probe.

According to Chaebul.com, Nexon has been spending over 2 billion won every year in entertainment expenses since 2012. In 2013, the total spending amounted to 2.89 billion won. As of the end of last year, the company had used 17.44 billion won in total for such expenses since 2004.

The sum is much larger than that of its business rival NCSoft, whose entertainment expenses were 4.87 billion won for the 2004-2015 period. 

Calculated in proportion to company sales, Nexon's entertainment spending accounted for 0.09 percent in 2004-2005 but between 0.11 percent and 0.17 percent after 2009, according to the analysis. (Yonhap)