Kakao Entertainment

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...

Earnings KakaoBank posts record Q1 profit, eyes Thai expansion after Indonesia

KakaoBank Corp., a leading South Korean internet-only bank, posted its highest quarterly profit in the first quarter, defying a drop in interest inc...

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...

Entertainment Kakao Entertainment scraps IPO, seeks new buyer

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s largest mobile platform, is looking to sell a majority stake in Kakao Entertainment Corp., dropping a plan to take ...

Entertainment Kakao Entertainment sheds loss-making units, revives IPO prospects

Kakao Entertainment Corp. has been divesting unprofitable music labels and digital content platforms, which it has gobbled up over the past few year...

Entertainment Korean entertainment stocks advance, unfazed by US tariff concerns

South Korean entertainment and gaming stocks climbed on Friday, defying a broader market drop as investors sought refuge in sectors seen as immune t...

K-pop K-pop exports boom as end of Chinese K-wave ban looms large

Exports of Korean popular music, or K-pop, have seen a significant surge in recent months, driven by increasing demand from China and Japan, accordi...

Entertainment SM Entertainment acquires additional 11.4% stake in DearU for $9.2 mn

SM Entertainment Co., South Korea’s music powerhouse behind internationally popular boy and girl bands like EXO and aespa, has acquired an add...

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-...

Leadership & Management Kakao founder Kim to resign as control tower chair

Kakao Corp. founder Kim Beom-soo, also known as Brian Kim, will step down as chairman of the South Korean tech giant’s top decision-making bod...

Korean stock market Korea’s Nextrade stock exchange debuts; YG Entertainment tops 1st day

South Korea’s first alternative stock exchange Nextrade (NXT) started trading on Tuesday, challenging the Korea Exchange’s (KRX) long-st...

Artificial intelligence Kakao set to announce AI partnership with OpenAI

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s dominant mobile platform, is expected to unveil a business partnership with OpenAI to incorporate the technology of...

IPOs Korean B2B fintech firm Dozn plans Kosdaq IPO for $202.5 mn market cap

South Korea’s business-to-business fintech service provider Dozn is planning an initial public offering on the Kosdaq in February for an estim...

Webtoons Piccoma tops consumer spending ranking in Japan

Kakao Piccoma, a Japanese digital comics app subsidiary of South Korean mobile giant Kakao Corp., topped the consumer spending ranking in the Japane...

IPOs Korean entertainment powerhouse K Wave Media to debut on Nasdaq in Feb

K Wave Media Ltd., an umbrella entity of South Korean entertainment companies, is set to go public on the Nasdaq next month in a bid to raise money ...

Korean stock market Korean stocks diverge: Winners, losers of Yoon’s martial law debacle

South Korean stocks showed clear divergences on Wednesday amid a mixed market outlook as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration, re...

Korean games S.Korea's Smilegate invests in GTA producer's studio

Smilegate, the South Korean developer of the world’s top first-person shooter game Crossfire, said on Tuesday it invested in the US-based medi...

Mergers & Acquisitions Korea Zinc’s role questioned in SM Entertainment stock manipulation case

When OneAsia Partners, a Seoul-based private equity fund operator, revised part of its PEF Havana I’s articles of association on Feb. 14, 2023...

Entertainment SM's UK K-pop group Dear Alice to debut with Gamma

South Korea's SM Entertainment Co. partnered with the US-based music label "Gamma." to globally debut its first British K-Pop boy group Dear Alice.A...

Mergers & Acquisitions CJ CheilJedang puts bio business on market for $4 bn

CJ CheilJedang Corp., South Korea’s largest food company, is seeking to sell its bio business for about 6 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in what ...

Logistics Kakao Mobility, Samyang Logistics partner on fulfillment services

Kakao Mobility Corp., South Korea’s most popular ride-hailing app operator, said on Monday that it partnered with logistics firm Samyang Logis...

Korean startups Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to invest $5 mn in S.Korea’s Musicow  

US entertainment tycoon Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is expected to invest about $5 million in Musicow Inc., South Korea’s music copyright trading...

Future mobility Kakao Mobility to launch outdoor robot delivery

Kakao Mobility Corp., South Korea’s largest taxi-hailing app operator, said on Monday that it signed a business agreement with Robotis, a comp...

Webtoons Instagram poised to crack Korean webcomics market

Big tech has begun its encroachment on the South Korean webcomics market, largely dominated by local players over the past two decades, fanning fear...

Artificial intelligence Kakao to launch AI messenger service Kanana in H1 2025

South Korea’s platform giant Kakao Corp. will roll out Kanana, a conversational AI agent-integrated messenger app, in the first half of next y...

Shareholder activism Align Partners calls on Doosan Bobcat to boost shareholder value

Align Partners Capital Management Inc., a South Korean activist fund, has called on Doosan Bobcat Inc., a global construction machinery maker owned ...

Future mobility Kakao Mobility, Samsung C&T to co-work on robot, parking solutions

Kakao Mobility Corp., South Korea’s largest taxi-hailing app operator, announced on Friday that it signed a business agreement with Samsung C&...

Regulations FTC fines Kakao Mobility $55 mn for alleged unfair taxi-hailing service

South Korea’s antitrust body has fined Kakao Mobility Corp., the country’s largest taxi-hailing app operator, 72.4 billion won ($54.9 mi...

Corporate strategy CJ Group explores Saudi Arabia's entertainment potential

CJ Group, South Korea’s food-to-entertainment giant, is exploring business opportunities in Saudi Arabia's entertainment and logistics sectors...

Artificial intelligence OpenResearch gets $7.5 mn seed round

OpenResearch, an AI search service founded by former Kakao Brain CEO Kim Il-Doo, said on Thursday that it got a seed round 10 billion won ($7.5 mill...