Kia CES 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...

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...

Earnings Kia maintains double-digit margin in Q1 with record revenue

Kia Corp., South Korea’s second-largest automaker, extended its double-digit profit margin streak to a 10th consecutive quarter, posting recor...

Automobiles Kia EV3 named 2025 World Car of the Year; Hyundai Inster wins EV award

NEW YORK – Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s third-largest automaker, snagged top trophies for its low-cost electric vehicles at the 2025...

Automobiles Kia to build North America-targeted electric pickup model

Kia Corp., South Korea’s second-largest carmaker, will build an electric pickup model tailored for North America to enter the world’s la...

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...

Steel Hyundai Steel picks Donaldsonville as $5.8 bn US plant site, seeks investors

South Korea’s Hyundai Steel Co. has chosen Donaldsonville, Louisiana, as the location for its $5.8 billion US steel mill, marking a major stra...

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...

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...

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 release PV9 in 2029, retains CEO for 3 more years

Kia Corp. will release a new purpose-built vehicle (PBV) model every two years, with plans to launch the PV9 in 2029 and its first model, the PV5, 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...

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 ...

Automobiles Kia’s Chinese operations turn to profit after 8 years; Export strategy pays off

South Korea’s No. 2 automaker Kia Corp. saw its Chinese operations turn profitable in 2024 for the first time in eight years as brisk exports ...

Electric vehicles Hyundai, Kia ready to ramp up EV output in Europe, US

South Korea’s top two automakers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. are expected to ramp up electric vehicle production in Europe and the US to b...

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...

Electric vehicles Kia CEO stands firm on electrification strategy, premieres EV4 in Europe

TARRAGONA, Spain – Despite a temporary slowdown in electric vehicle demand and intensifying competition from Chinese automakers, Kia Corp. rem...

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...

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...

Aerospace & Defense S.Korea’s defense order backlog reaches record $73.1 billion at end-2024

South Korea’s seven major defense companies saw their combined order backlog reach a record 105.6 trillion won ($73.1 billion) at the end of 2...

Mergers & Acquisitions Shin & Kim’s Jeong Hae Sung named Korea’s most influential M&A lawyer

Jeong Hae Sung, a partner at Shin & Kim, topped the list of South Korea’s 10 most influential M&A lawyers after advising on a total of...

Private equity EQT targets healthcare, technology, business service providers in Korea

EQT, the largest private equity firm in Europe, is setting its sights on healthcare, technology companies and business service providers in South Ko...

Electronics Hanmi Semiconductor to retire $90 mn treasury shares in May

Hanmi Semiconductor Co. on Thursday announced a plan to retire 130.0 billion won ($90 million) worth of treasury shares in May, marking its largest-...

Earnings Hanwha Systems posts record earnings in 2024 on brisk defense sales

Hanwha Systems Co., a leading South Korean defense company, reported its best-ever earnings last year thanks to brisk sales of its defense systems i...

Earnings Naver founder to return as board chair; 2024 earnings solid

Lee Hae-jin, the founder of South Korea’s No. 1 internet portal operator Naver Corp., is set to return to the company to lead the board amid t...