Kakao portal giant
Scope
Date
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Kakao Piccoma acquires Japan’s cryptocurrency exchange SEBC
Kakao Corp., South Korea’s top mobile messenger app operator, has acquired a controlling stake in Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC), a Japanese c...
Apr 05, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Corporate restructuring
Telecom giant KT considers turning into holding company structure
KT Corp., a major South Korean telecommunications company, is considering changing into a holding company structure in an effort to boost the compan...
Apr 01, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean games
Nexon incorporates own payment system for Dungeon & Fire release
South Korea’s online game developers are intensifying their efforts to build and incorporate their own payment systems to wipe out hefty commi...
Mar 30, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Tech, Media & Telecom
Naver subsidiary splurges on metaverse, resell platform acquisitions
Snow Corp., a subsidiary of South Korea’s tech behemoth Naver Corp., has either already invested, or is slated to invest, in 11 companies so f...
Mar 29, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Alternative investments
Daewoo E&C jointly creates $400 mn fund for overseas M&As
Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. of South Korea and IMM Investment Global, the Hong Kong-based affiliate of Korean equity firm IMM Investme...
Mar 28, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Kakao hits snag in $815 mn SM Entertainment takeover plan
Kakao Entertainment Corp. has hit a snag in its talks to buy a controlling stake in SM Entertainment Co., according to those familiar with the neg...
Mar 28, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Electronics
OLED materials makers set to shine as Samsung, Sony unveil new TVs
South Korea’s major OLED materials makers are becoming the market darlings with decent gains in their share prices, as global TV manufacturers...
Mar 21, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Entertainment
Europe emerges as battleground for webtoon dominance
South Korea’s tech behemoths Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. are intensifying competition over who will dominate the global webtoon market. ...
Mar 21, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Tech, Media & Telecom
LG Elec. to sell automotive wireless smartphone charging division
South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. plans to drop its automotive wireless smartphone charging unit as the global home appliance giant exited fro...
Mar 20, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Tech, Media & Telecom
Billionaire Kakao chairman Brian Kim resigns
Kakao Corp. founder and chairman Brian Kim said on Monday that he will step down from the tech giant’s board of directors, following a series ...
Mar 14, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Executive reshuffles
Billionaire Kakao chairman Brian Kim resigns
Kakao Corp. founder and chairman Brian Kim said on Monday that he will step down from the board of directors, following a series of scandals that ro...
Mar 14, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Kakao closes in on $800 mn deal to buy SM Entertainment stake
Kakao Entertainment Corp., a unit of South Korea's top mobile messenger app, is in the final stages of talks to buy a controlling stake in SM Entert...
Mar 11, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Content platforms
Kakao to unveil YouTube-like manga platform in Japan
Kakao Corp., the No. 1 digital comics platform in Japan, will expand deeper into the neighboring country's comics market by launching a platform whe...
Mar 03, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean games
Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju dies at 54
Kim Jung-ju, the founder of global gaming giant Nexon Co. died in late February. He was 54.NXC Corp., the holding company of Nexon, announced on T...
Mar 01, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Metaverse
Kakao’s incoming CEO to launch two metaverse platforms
‘Beyond Korea’ is South Korean tech juggernaut Kakao Corp.’s new vision for the future. Kakao’s new CEO nominee Namkoon...
Feb 25, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Beauty & Cosmetics
Skincare giant Cosmax adds pet care line
South Korea’s beauty products manufacturer Cosmax Inc. has entered the rapidly growing pet products market.The company specializes in receiv...
Feb 24, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Food & Beverage
Shinsegae acquires Napa Valley winery Shafer Vineyards for $250 million
South Korea’s retail giant Shinsegae Inc. has acquired US winery Shafer Vineyards for $250 million to consolidate its leadership in the domest...
Feb 16, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Batteries
SK On's $4 bn funding draws PE giants, GIC, Saudi PIF
BlackRock, Blackstone, Singapore's GIC and Saudi's Public Investment Fund (PIF) are among the preliminary bidders for shares worth up to $4.2 billio...
Feb 16, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean games
NCSoft's 2021 profit halves on labor, marketing costs
South Korea's NCSoft Corp., the publisher of the popular mobile game Lineage series, on Tuesday reported a worse-than-expected operating profit in 2...
Feb 15, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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The Deep Dive
How Carlyle aligned interests with Hyundai Motor chair
South Korea's strengthened antitrust rules relating to inter-affiliate trade provided the Carlyle Group with a valuable opportunity to invest in Hyu...
Feb 13, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean stock market
Gaming stocks tumble after disappointing Q4 results
Shares in South Korean gaming companies have been on a losing run since the start of the year, giving up about half of the gains they enjoyed late l...
Feb 11, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Earnings
Kakao slips below Naver in Q4 revenue
South Korea’s tech giant Kakao Corp. reported 4Q revenue of 1.78 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in 2021, a 45% jump on-year. The figure is slight...
Feb 11, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Aerospace & Defense
Defense giants eager to bolster satellite business
In the era of space privatization, satellites are the driving forces.South Korea’s main defense systems makers are turning away from arms expo...
Feb 11, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Entertainment
Kakao to launch webtoon service Piccoma in France
Kakao Corp. announced Sunday that it plans to launch the European version of its webtoon subscription service in either April or May of this year....
Feb 07, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean games
Saudi sovereign wealth fund buys 5% stake in Nexon
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) has bought a 5% stake in online game developer Nexon Co., the gaming...
Feb 06, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Entertainment
Naver to invest $330 mn in content business expansion
Naver Corp., South Korea’s online portal giant, decided to make an additional investment in a web content unit to expand its global webtoon an...
Jan 28, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Artificial intelligence
Naver recruits two AI scholars based in US
Naver Corp. is ramping up its recruitment of global talent in artificial intelligence. The South Korean tech giant announced Monday that it h...
Jan 25, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
China’s ByteDance invests $42 mn in Korea’s KidariStudio
China’s ByteDance Ltd., the developer of video-sharing social networking service TikTok, announced Friday that it invested 48 billion won ($42...
Jan 21, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Fraud scandals
Kakao names new CEO to salvage reputation hurt by stock options scandal
Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, on Thursday announced a new chief executive nominee as the company ...
Jan 20, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)
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Entertainment
Squid Game’s mega-hit spurs Netflix to release record K-content
Netflix Inc. plans to release 10 additional Korean-language originals this year as the smash success of Squid Game has impelled the world’s to...
Jan 19, 2022 (Gmt+09:00)