SEOUL, July 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Enterprise Corp., an artificial intelligence (AI) unit of the country’s largest mobile messenger operator, Kakao Corp., said Tuesday that it has added a new feature to the Kakao Smart Speaker that allows users to customize voice triggers. Previously, the speaker has responded only to “Hey, Kakao.” Now, users [...]
SEOUL, June 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Corp., which operates South Korea’s most popular mobile messenger Kakao Talk, emerged as the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate in terms of market cap on the back of the recent gains from the main bourse, data showed Sunday. The combined market cap of Kakao and its affiliates came to 73.9 [...]
SEOUL, June 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Corp. has an insatiable appetite for platform businesses, spanning messenger, e-commerce, mobility, content and finance, and now it has earned another title: South Korea’s third-most valuable company. The nation’s dominant mobile messenger operator rapidly expanded its presence in the nation’s tech sector with a wide range of platform [...]
SEOUL, June 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp., the two major South Korean tech companies, have benefitted from the ‘pandemic boost’ and showed exponential growth over the past 12 months. Behind the scenes, however, these companies are struggling with criticism over unfair treatment of employees. Since early this year, the two companies [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Entertainment, an entertainment arm of Kakao Corp., said Tuesday it has acquired U.S.-based online comic app Tapas and fiction app Radish for US$510 million and $440 million, respectively. The subsidiary of Kakao Corp, the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said the latest deals could help [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said Thursday its first-quarter net profit jumped nearly four times from a year earlier on the back of robust growth of its mobility and fintech businesses amid the pandemic. Net profit reached 239.9 billion won (US$213.7 million) in [...]
SEOUL, April 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Corp., once embroiled in a long-standing dispute with the taxi industry due to its ride-sharing service, is once again facing similar criticism. Kakao Mobility Corp., the mobility business unit of Kakao, released a new 99,000 won (US$88.50) monthly subscription plan for taxi drivers last month that offers benefits [...]
SEOUL, April 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The founder of South Korea’s top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp. and his wholly-owned company has sold 500 billion won (US$447 million) worth of stocks in Kakao part of his pledge to donate half of his assets, a filing showed Friday. The move came after Kim Beom-su, who serves [...]
SEOUL, March 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Major South Korean music distributor Kakao Entertainment Corp. and global music streaming giant Spotify Technology SA said Thursday they have reached an agreement on global music licensing after the two companies failed to renew an existing deal last month, resulting in a partial K-pop blackout. The new deal comes [...]
SEOUL, March 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Last weekend, global K-pop fans on Spotify faced a blackout of hundreds of songs by popular artists, including Zico, Mamamoo and IU, after the Swedish audio giant’s licensing agreement with South Korea’s top music distributor Kakao M Corp. came to an end. While some music has since been restored [...]