Kakao To Reportedly Venture Further Into Entertainment Industry

Kakao, a South Korean internet company that is most known for its mobile instant messaging application KakaoTalk, may be diving in more into the entertainment industry.

The company is expanding its business beyond IT companies and speeding up its efforts to plan and produce contents that span popular culture and even distribute them globally, signaling a change in entertainment industry.

Kakao, which recently merged with its subsidiary Kakao M, has officially established a separate corporation that integrates music and video business. With the expansion of the music business through the music platform Melon and the advancement of the video industry, it is seeking to acquire entertainment agencies that focuses on actors which can represent the entertainment industry.

One industry representative shared, “Large-scale entertainment companies with Hallyu stars to leading management companies with several top actors are being mentioned as takeover targets. They have been conducting business in high secrecy, and it seems that they are in the final stages of the acquisition.

Previously, Kakao launched Kakao M by acquiring Loen Entertainment, the largest music distributor in Korea, through which FAVE Entertainment, Starship Entertainment, Plan A Entertainment, Cre.Ker Entertainment, and more are being managed.

Although it has yet to be decided how the acquisition of actor-based entertainment agencies will work out, if accomplished, Kakao may be able to literally move the domestic entertainment industry at once.

Kakao had revealed on May 17, “We are going to establish a separate corporation for contents business that encompasses music and video business. We plan to develop a separate entity into a core subsidiary responsible for intellectual property rights and content through active investment and mergers and acquisitions.”

What are your thoughts on Kakao being involved in the entertainment industry?

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