Kakao T Blue

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...

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...

Airlines Sono Hospitality becomes new owner of Korean budget carrier T’way Air

South Korea’s top resort operator Sono Hospitality Group has emerged as the new owner of budget carrier T’way Air Co. by acquiring ...

Energy SK Innovation E&S to secure 10 mn tons of LNG to compete with BP, Shell

SK Innovation E&S (SKI E&S), the natural gas business unit of South Korea’s SK Innovation Co., is set to begin an LNG trading business...

Korean stock market Alternative stock exchange Nextrade to launch on March 4

Nextrade, South Korea’s first alternative stock exchange, enabling trading of stocks listed on the Kospi and the Kosdaq for 12 hours a day is ...

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...

Airlines Sono Hospitality heralds proxy fight to control T’way Air

Sono Hospitality Group, South Korea’s top resort operator, has vowed to more actively horn in on the business of T'way Air Co., portending a p...

Private equity How STIC Investments’ bet on animal fat processor DK O&T paid off

In South Korea, businesses handling livestock by-products have lacked investor appeal. They were usually mom-and-pop businesses and appeared to hold...

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...

Robotics Neubility, Samsung C&T offer robot delivery service

South Korea's autonomous robot startup Neubility and Samsung C&T Corp. said on Wednesday that they began to offer door-to-door delivery in apa...

Aerospace & Defense India to acquire 100 units of Hanwha Aerospace’s K9 howitzers via L&T

India will acquire 100 units of the K9 self-propelled howitzers developed by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace Co. from Larsen & Toubro (L&am...

Energy Samsung C&T, Hitachi Energy to team up for HVDC projects

South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. said Monday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sweden's Hitachi Energy to cooperate for high-vol...

Energy Samsung C&T, Sweden's Karnfull Next to team up for SMR

South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. said Friday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Swedish energy company Karnfull Next AB to jointl...

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...

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...

Construction & Planning Samsung C&T-Sumitomo consortium wins $3.7 billion Qatar project

An international consortium involving South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corp. and financial firms has won a $3.7 billion project to build a desali...

Energy Samsung C&T, LS Electric to establish US solar JV

South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. and LS Electric Co. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday to expand solar power projects in the U...

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 PEN Ventures: A skilled startup accelerator for entrepreneurs going global

For startup accelerators that nurture promising young entrepreneurs, identifying a soon-to-be-unicorn, or a company valued at over $1 billion, in ...

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...

Construction Samsung C&T consortium wins $1.6 bn Turkish highway project

A consortium of Samsung C&T Corp., South Korean state-run firms and a Turkish builder won a $1.6 billion project to build and run a highway in t...