Kakao Entertainment Corp. () is a South Korean entertainment, mass media, and publishing company founded in 2021. A subsidiary of the Internet company
Kakao, it was established subsequent to the merger of the latter's two subsidiaries
KakaoPage and
Kakao M.
History
KakaoPage Corp.
Podotree Co, Ltd. was founded on July 20, 2010, as a subsidiary of Kakao, and launched KakaoPage three years later. On August 1, 2018, the company changed its corporate name to KakaoPage Corp.
Kakao M
Seoul Records, Inc. was established in October 1978 by , the founder of South Korea's leading educational company (formerly Sisa English). In 2005, the company was acquired by
SK Telecom and relaunched as LOEN Entertainment, Inc. three years later, before being sold to Star Invest Holdings (a subsidiary of
Affinity Equity Partners).
In January 2016, it was taken over by Kakao and renamed again as Kakao M Corp. in December 2017.
In October 2020, the company expanded in
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
by launching a Thailand-based subsidiary called Kakao M Asia (Private) Co., Ltd. (currently Kakao Entertainment Asia Co., Ltd.).
Merger as Kakao Entertainment (2021–present)
In December 2020, KakaoPage Corp. proposed a merger with Kakao M Corp. as a unified company. It was seen as an action by their parent company against US-based
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
’s new policy for its app market place users, which would've affected Kakao M, which
KakaoTV platform was starting to become popular in South Korea.
Both companies announced the plans and timeline for their merger, as well as the proposed name for the unified company Kakao Entertainment Corp on January 25, 2021. Under the plans, KakaoPage Corp. is the surviving entity.
The merger was completed on March 1, and Kakao Entertainment was formally founded a day later.
On July 15, it was announced that Kakao Entertainment and
Melon Company would be merging, with the merger expected to be complete in September 2021.
On September 17, Kakao Entertainment announced that
Play M Entertainment and Cre.ker Entertainment would be merging in the future. On November 12, it was announced that the company's new corporate name would be
IST Entertainment, which took effect on November 1.
Divisions
Page Company
Headed by co-CEO Joy Lee, the Kakao Entertainment's Page Company is in charge of the company's web fiction publishing and web development business. It is situated in
Pangyo,
Seongnam in
Gyeonggi Province.
M Company
Headed by co-CEO , the Kakao Entertainment's M Company is in charge of the company's entertainment and mass media business. Its headquarters is in
Teheran-ro,
Gangnam-gu in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
.
Subsidiaries
Under the Page Company
*AdPage
*Daon Creative
*KW Books
*Kiwi Vine
*RS Media
*Radish Media
*Samyang C&C
*Soundist Entertainment
*
Tapas Media
*Yeondam
Under the M Company
Entertainment companies
*
Antenna Music
*EDAM Entertainment
*
High Up Entertainment
*
Starship Entertainment
**Starship X
**
Highline Entertainment
Talent companies
*Awesome ENT
*
BH Entertainment
*J.Wide Company
*
King Kong by Starship
*
Management SOOP
*Ready Entertainment
*VAST Entertainment & Media
Production companies
*3Y Corporation
*Baram Pictures
*Dolphiners Films
*GRAYGO
**Maison de Baja
*
Kross Pictures
*
Logos Film
*
Mega Monster
*Moonlight Film
*Sanai Pictures
*Shownote
*
Story & Pictures Media
*Studio K11O
*Zip Cinema
Assets
Buildings
* Jungsuck Building (Seoul) - headquarters of the Kakao Entertainment M Company
* The Kakao Entertainment M Company also owns a building at Samseong-dong in Seoul, where the headquarters of IST Entertainment and Flex M are located.
Internet properties
*
1theK
** 1theK Live
**
1theK Originals
** 1theK Style (coming soon)
* Berriz
*
KakaoPage
** KakaoPage Indonesia (formerly Neobazar) (
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
)
*
KakaoTV
*
Kakao Webtoon
** Kakao Webtoon (South Korea) (formerly Daum Webtoon)
** Kakao Webtoon (
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
)
** Kakao Webtoon (
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
)
** Kakao Webtoon (
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
)
*
Melon
* Muse (mobile audition application)
* Radish (
US)
** Wuxiaworld (
US)
*
Tapas (US)
Locations
* Kakao Entertainment Page Company: Twosun World Building 8/F, 221, Pangyoyeok-ro,
Bundang-gu,
Seongnam-si,
Gyeonggi-do
Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous administrative divisions of South Korea, province in South Korea.
Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a list of provinc ...
, South Korea
* Kakao Entertainment M Company: Jungsuck Building, 17,
Teheran-ro 103-gil,
Gangnam-gu,
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
, South Korea
Extra info
*
Tachiyomi, A free and open-source Manga, Manhwa etc. reader app, was forced to stop development after Kakao Entertainment issued a cease-and-desist letter to the developers.
*
ReaperScan, A free and fan translated Manhwa and Web Novel site, was forced to shutdown after Kakao Entertainment issued a cease-and-desist letter to the site admin.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2021 mergers and acquisitions
Mass media companies established in 2021
Entertainment companies of South Korea
Mass media companies of South Korea
Publishing companies of South Korea
South Korean companies established in 2021
Companies based in Gyeonggi Province
Companies based in Seoul
South Korean record labels
Record label distributors