Busan International Mobility Show 2024

Mergers & Acquisitions Mubadala, Goldman Sachs to invest $700 mn in Kakao Mobility

United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. and Goldman Sachs are set to invest a combined $700 million in Kakao Mobil...

Mergers & Acquisitions Harman acquires Masimo’s audio arm in Samsung’s car audio push

Harman International Industries Inc., wholly owned by Samsung Electronics Co., has acquired Masimo Corp.’s audio business for $350 million, a ...

Korean games NCSOFT invests in US game startup emptyvessel

NCSOFT Corp. has made an equity investment in emptyvessel, a US indie games studio, as part of efforts to expand into the first-person shooter genre...

Markets Kakao shares sink on SK Telecom’s stake sell-off news

Kakao Corp. shares underperformed its peers and the broad market on Friday after SK Telecom Co. sold off its entire stake in the South Korean platfo...

Economy Trump’s tariffs are hitting exports, early Korean data show

The effects of President Trump’s new tariffs are starting to be felt across the world, preliminary South Korean trade data suggest, as Seoul p...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Hyundai on course for $1.55 bn order amid US-China trade war

HD Hyundai Co., the world’s largest shipbuilding group, is emerging as a key beneficiary of the Trump administration’s tariff policies a...

Automobiles Korea’s KG Mobility teams up with Chery to develop mid to large SUVs

KG Mobility Corp., a South Korean automaker specializing in sport utility vehicles, said on Wednesday it joined hands with China’s fourth-larg...

Korean chipmakers DB GlobalChip forays into mobile phone OLED driver chip market

DB GlobalChip Co., the chip design subsidiary of South Korea’s chip foundry company DB HiTek Co., has begun mass-producing organic light-emitt...

Leadership & Management Samsung mobile chief fills leadership void in device division

Samsung Electronics Co. has appointed TM Roh, president and head of its mobile eXperience (MX) business, as the new chief of its device eXperience (...

Korean games Krafton buys India’s Nautilus Mobile, fueling IP race in Korean game scene

Krafton Inc., one of South Korea’s top four market-cap gaming firms, has taken over Indian game developer Nautilus Mobile for $14 million, upp...

Mergers & Acquisitions VIG taps KDB financing to buy 40% stake in Kakao Mobility

South Korea’s private equity firm VIG Partners’ buyout of minority stakes in Kakao Mobility Corp., the nation’s most popular taxi-...

Pension funds Global assets drive Korean teachers' fund to 11.1% return in 2024

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU) achieved an 11.1% return on investments in 2024, with overseas portfolios in stocks, infrastructure a...

Leadership & Management Samsung Chairman Lee meets with Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun for partnership

BEIJING – Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong has met with Xiaomi Inc. Chief Executive Lei Jun in the Chinese capital, raising specu...

Business & Politics S.Korea wary of inclusion on US ‘Dirty 15’ nations list for reciprocal tariffs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The US government plans to unveil country-specific reciprocal tariffs on April 2, with particular attention to nations impo...

Corporate strategy Hyundai chief Chung Euisun targets software-led car dominance by 2028

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun has set an ambitious target to outpace Tesla Inc. in software-defined vehicle (SDV) technology by 2028, un...

Games Krafton invests in 10 overseas game startups in 2024

Krafton Inc. invested in 10 overseas game developers in 2024 in search of the next big franchise intellectual property (IP) following its mega-hit t...

Automobiles Kia to ramp up Seltos output to meet high global demand

Kia Corp. will expand production of its compact sport utility vehicle, the Seltos, after selling 310,000 units of the model across the globe, making...

Stocks China stock funds outperform US funds in South Korea

Chinese stocks are attracting South Korean investors looking beyond Wall Street amid the downturn in US Big Tech stocks.South Korea’s equity f...

Beauty & Cosmetics K-beauty shake-up: APR, Shinsegae rise as Aekyung declines

South Korea’s beauty industry is undergoing a major reshuffle, with new players rising to prominence while established giants face growing com...

Private equity South Korea emerges as private equity firms’ global hub

New York-based Apollo Global Management and London-based Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) have joined the ranks of global private equity firms that ...

Webtoons Naver’s Webtoon hints at ad business expansion in 2025

Webtoon Entertainment Inc., the Nasdaq-listed storytelling platform operator under South Korea’s internet giant Naver Corp., is set to expand ...

Games Chinese games expand foothold in South Korea

Chinese games are making deep inroads into South Korea, increasing their presence in the mobile gaming market amid a lack of restrictions on foreign...

Korean startups Hyundai Motor spins off 4 in-house startups in energy, AI, mobility

South Korea’s auto behemoth Hyundai Motor Group has spun off its four in-house startups with innovative technologies in mobility, automation a...

Korean startups South Korea loses tech startups at rapid clip amid dwindling funding

Concerns are growing that the tech startup ecosystem in South Korea, home to global tech household name Samsung Electronics Co., would be trapped in...

Mergers & Acquisitions Affinity Equity set to close $1.1 bn purchase of Lotte Rental

Affinity Equity Partners said on Friday that it will sign a definitive agreement on March 11 with Lotte Group to acquire a 56.2% stake in South Kore...

Pension funds S.Korea’s pension fund NPS posts record return in 2024 on US stock rally

The National Pension Service (NPS), South Korea’s state-run pension fund and the country’s largest institutional investor, said on ...

Sovereign wealth funds S.Korea’s sovereign fund KIC logs 8.5% return in 2024

The Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) reported an annual return of 8.49% last year thanks to steady gains from equity investments led by the AI tec...

Earnings Coupang posts profit for 2 straight years in 2024 on new growth drivers

Coupang Inc., South Korea’s answer to global e-commerce giant Amazon.com, ended last year with profit for the second straight year thanks to t...

Leadership & Management Samsung lowers bar on hiring foreign talent in South Korea

South Korea’s biggest business group Samsung has sweetened the pot to win the technology talent war by lowering the bar for new hires of forei...

Earnings Meritz cheers record profit in 2024, boasts top 3 market cap

Meritz Financial Group Inc. has reported its best-ever net profit for last year thanks to handsome gains from investments by its insurance and secur...