Spotify, Kakao settle licensing dispute; K-pop returns to platform

Spotify Technology S.A., the world's largest music streaming service, has reached a licensing agreement with Kakao Entertainment Corp., to make musi...

Kakao forays into pet taxi service; buys Pet Me Up

South Korea-based Kakao Mobility Corp., a subsidiary of mobile giant Kakao Corp., has acquired the country's leading pet taxi service, Pet Me Up, in...

Kakao to split stock 5-for-1 after share price hits record high

Kakao Corp. will split its stock on a five-for-one basis in April, which the South Korean mobile messaging app giant said would make the stock more ...

SK teams with Plug Power to tackle Asia's hydrogen ecosystem

South Korea-based SK Group is ready to take on the growing Asian fuel cell market, having finalized a $1.6 billion deal to acquire around a 10% stak...

Kakao's edtech startup eyes 2022 listing

South Korea-based edtech startup Yanadoo is the latest affiliate of Kakao Corp., the country's largest messaging app operator, to prepare for an ini...

Carlyle seals $200 mn investment in Kakao Mobility

The Carlyle Group has agreed to buy $200 million worth of new shares in Kakao Mobility Corp. as a pre-IPO investment in the transportation arm of So...

Amorepacific, Shopee ink partnership for Southeast Asian market

Amorepacific Corp., the South Korean beauty giant, has signed a partnership agreement with Shopee, a Singaporean e-commerce platform, to expand it...

Uber, T Map Mobility JV wins antitrust approval; set to launch in April

South Korea's antitrust regulator has approved the proposed joint venture between the US-based ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. and T M...

Kakao hits all-time earnings high; tops $3.5 bn in revenue

South Korea-based mobile platform giant Kakao Corp. has posted an all-time earnings high for last year, thanks to robust growth of its core operatio...

Kakao hits all-time high on earnings; tops $3.5 bn in revenue

South Korea-based mobile platform giant Kakao Corp. has reported an all-time high on last year's earnings, thanks to its core operations posting rob...

Kakao founder commits to donate over half his wealth

To leave the world a little bit better – a line from the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem What is Success and the status message...

Google to invest $270 mn in Kakao Mobility with Carlyle

Google Inc. is planning to invest around $270 million in Kakao Mobility Corp., the transportation arm of South Korea's No. 1 messaging operator Kaka...

Affiliates merge to become Kakao Entertainment; aim global

South Korea’s leading mobile app operator Kakao Corp.’s affiliates are set to merge to become a new entity, Kakao Entertainment, heraldi...

KKR’s Asia real estate fund draws around $400 mn from Korea

South Korean institutional investors, including the National Pension Service, have committed around $400 million to KKR’s Asia real estate f...

KKR’s $3.9 bn Asia infra fund raises $130 mn from Korea

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU) and financial services firms in South Korea have committed $130 million to KKR & Co.’s inau...

Kakao Enterprise exceeds $920 mn in enterprise value

South Korea-based Kakao Enterprise has topped 1 trillion won ($921.5 million) in enterprise value, just a year after its inception in 2019, follow...

Kakao, NCSoft likely to lead record-breaking earnings in 2021

South Korea’s mobile platform giant Kakao Corp. and game developer NCSoft Corp. are looking to post their best-ever earnings for a second stra...

Kakao Bank wraps up $921 mn rights offering

South Korea's mobile-only bank has wrapped up its $920.5 million rights offering, placing the enterprise value at around 9.3 trillion won ($8.6 ...

Kakao Games injects $173mn into S.Korean game company

Kakao Games Corp. has injected around 190 billion won ($173 million) into South Korean game company Neptune Corp., pouring in nearly half the proc...

KDB backs $100 mn SE Asia fund of Korean, Chinese VC firms

South Korean venture capital firm SV Investment Corp, together with China’s Shenzhen Capital Group, will raise $100 million in the Korean VC's...

Kakao Page to merge with Kakao M ahead of 2021 IPO

South Korea's largest mobile app operator Kakao Corp. is working to merge its content platform affiliates, a strategic move that should boost the en...

Kakao, Tencent join forces to tackle Chinese market

South Korea’s leading platform giant Kakao Corp. has joined hands with China’s tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. to tap into the Chinese ...

Naver, Kakao wrestle for crown in webtoon market

South Korea’s leading webtoon (digital comics) platforms are wrestling to secure the No. 1 position in the global market as they work to tak...

Naver, Kakao unsettled by Google's in-app payment policy

Global tech giant Google’s in-app payment policy has been coolly received by South Korea’s leading platform companies, fueling criticism...

Kakao, Google in talks over mobility partnerships

Kakao Mobility Corp., the transportation arm of South Korea's No. 1 messaging operator Kakao Corp., is in talks with global IT giant Google over pot...

Naver, Mirae Asset bolster presence in Southeast Asia via $898 mn fund

South Korea’s platform giant Naver Corp., alongside Mirae Asset Daewoo Co., has been increasing investments into promising startups in Southeast...

Kakao webtoon platform Piccoma becomes No.1 grossing app worldwide

Kakao Corp., South Korea's platform giant, announced on Nov. 9 that its webtoon (digital comics) platform Piccoma has become the No. 1 grossing mobile...

Kakao’s Q3 sales, operating profit soar on e-commerce, online ad gains

South Korea’s mobile platform giant Kakao Corp. said Thursday its operating profit and sales jumped to their all-time highs in the third quarter...

[ASK2020] Direct Lending (or Private Credit) in Asia

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager operating integrated businesses across Credit, Privat...

Samsung Display, Asia's first to win Huawei supply permit

Samsung Display Co., a leading South Korean display panel maker, has received a permit from the US to supply certain panels to Huawei Technologies Co....