Kakao Entertainment

Kakao Entertainment Corp. (Korean: 주식회사 카카오엔터테인먼트), stylized as kakao ENTERTAINMENT, 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.[2][3][4]

Kakao Entertainment Corp.
Native name
주식회사 카카오엔터테인먼트
TypePrivate subsidiary
Industry
Predecessor
(as separate companies)
FoundedMarch 2, 2021 (2021-03-02)[1]
Headquarters
South Korea
Key people
Joy Lee (CEO)
Stephan Kim (CEO)[lower-alpha 1]
Products
Services
Owner
  • Kakao (63.50%)
  • Podo Asia B.V. (15.33%)
  • Joy Lee (0.96%)
  • Others (20.21%)
ParentKakao
Divisions
  • Page Company
  • M Company
Subsidiariessee list
WebsiteKakaoEnt.com

History

KakaoPage Corp.
Main article: KakaoPage

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
Main article: Kakao M

Seoul Records, Inc. was founded in October 1978 by Young Bin Min, the owner of local educational company YBM Group (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 by launching a Thailand-based subsidiary called Kakao M Asia (Private) Co., Ltd. (currently Kakao Entertainment Asia Co., Ltd.).[5]

Merger as Kakao Entertainment (2021–present)

In December 2020, KakaoPage Corp. proposed a merger with Kakao M Corp. as a unified company.[6] It was seen as an action by their parent company against US-based Google’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.[7] 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.[8]

On September 17, Kakao Entertainment announced that Play M Entertainment and Cre.ker Entertainment would be merging in the future.[9] On November 12, it was announced that the company's new corporate name would be IST Entertainment, which took effect on November 1.[10]

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 Stephan Kim - one of South Korea's most renowned entertainment executives - 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.

Subsidiaries

Under the Page Company

Under the M Company

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

Locations

Notes
  1. Also concurrent chairman and head of Corporate Alignment Center of parent company, Kakao.
  2. joint venture with Kakao Games

References
  1. "Kakao Entertainment". Kakao Entertainment Corp. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  2. Song, Kyoung-son (March 4, 2021). "Kakao M and Kakao Page merged into Kakao Entertainment". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  3. Park, Sae-jin (January 25, 2021). "Kakao units merged into entertainment company targeting global market". Aju Business Daily. Archived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  4. Leesa-Nguansuk, Suchit (January 26, 2021). "South Korea's Kakao affiliates to merge". Bangkok Post. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  5. "Kakao Entertainment Asia Co., Ltd". Match Link Asia. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  6. Kang, Doo-soon; Oh, Dae-seok; Kang, Woo-seok; Kang, Young-woon; Cho, Jeehyun (December 3, 2020). "Kakao Page close to merging with Kakao M before IPO". Maeil Business News Korea. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  7. "Launch of KAKAO ENTERTAINMENT through strategic merger of Kakao Page and Kakao M". Kakao Page Corp. (Press release). Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021 – via PR Newswire.
  8. Jo, Ji-young (July 15, 2021). "[공식] 카카오엔터, 음악 플랫폼 멜론 품는다..9월 합병" [[Official] Kakao Entertainment embraces music platform Melon..September merger]. Sports Chosun (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021 – via Naver.
  9. Kwak, Hyeon-su (September 17, 2021). "플레이엠·크래커 엔터 통합…에이핑크·더보이즈 한 식구 된다" [PlayM and Creker Enter integration… Apink and The Boyz become one family]. YTN (in Korean). Archived from the original on February 25, 2022. Retrieved September 17, 2021 – via Naver.
  10. Kim, Ye-ji (November 12, 2021). 에이핑크 '플레이엠'·더보이즈 '크래커', IST로 통합 [Apink's 'PlayM' and The Boyz's 'Cracker' merged into IST]. Newsis (in Korean). Archived from the original on November 12, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021 – via Naver.
  11. Park, Sae-jin (December 21, 2021). "Kakao Entertainment acquires film and advertising studios to beef up storytelling capability". Aju Business Daily. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  12. Frater, Patrick (September 16, 2021). "Korean Internet Giant Kakao to Buy Prestige Film Producer Zip Cinema". Variety. PMC. Archived from the original on January 9, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  13. "Kakao Entertainment sets a new global standard with the launch of 'KAKAO WEBTOON'". PR Newswire. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved July 9, 2021 – via Yahoo! Finance.
  14. Frater, Patrick (December 16, 2021). "Kakao Entertainment Buys Wuxiaworld Online Fiction Platform". Variety. PMC. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
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