Kakao Pay backs out of acquisition deal for Shinsegae’s SSG Pay, Smile Pay

Kakao Pay backs out of acquisition deal for Shinsegae’s SSG Pay, Smile Pay

Kakao Pay Corp., the mobile payment and digital wallet service unit of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp., has pulled out of a deal to acquire two ...

Hanwha seeks to buy Paraspara Seoul from developer tied to Banyan Tree Busan fire

Hanwha seeks to buy Paraspara Seoul from developer tied to Banyan Tree Busan fire

Hanwha Hotels & Resorts Co. is in talks to acquire Paraspara Seoul, a five-star hotel and resort, up for sale by a property developer facing lia...

K-beauty craze sends Olive Young online sales to new heights

K-beauty craze sends Olive Young online sales to new heights

CJ Olive Young Corp., South Korea’s top beauty store chain, is another beneficiary of the global K-beauty surge, with its online cosmetics sal...

Tencent eyes 2nd-largest stake in Kakao Mobility amid broader Korea push

Tencent eyes 2nd-largest stake in Kakao Mobility amid broader Korea push

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has emerged as a surprise contender in a race to acquire a roughly 40% stake in Kakao Mobility Corp., the o...

Coupang bids for Korean luxury market dominance with Farfetch

Coupang bids for Korean luxury market dominance with Farfetch

Coupang Inc., South Korea’s largest e-commerce player, is set to seize control of the country’s online luxury market with Farfetch amid ...

Kakao Mobility to build smart infrastructure for Saudi Diriyah project

Kakao Mobility to build smart infrastructure for Saudi Diriyah project

Kakao Mobility Corp., which runs South Korea’s most popular ride-hailing app, Kakao T, has clinched a deal to build a future mobility infrastr...

Elliott loses appeal over $19 mn claim against Samsung C&T

Elliott loses appeal over $19 mn claim against Samsung C&T

A South Korean appellate court has rejected Elliott Investment Management Corp.’s claim for 26.7 billion won ($19.3 million) in interest for a...

Tencent to become SM Entertainment's No. 2 shareholder via HYBE deal

Tencent to become SM Entertainment's No. 2 shareholder via HYBE deal

Tencent Music Entertainment Group is set to become the second-largest shareholder of SM Entertainment Co. by acquiring HYBE Co.'s remaining shares i...

OpenAI sets up entity in Korea with most paid ChatGPT users outside US

OpenAI sets up entity in Korea with most paid ChatGPT users outside US

OpenAI Inc., the creator of generative AI ChatGPT, has established a legal entity in South Korea, which has the largest number of paying ChatGPT sub...

Kakao Pay in talks to acquire SSG.COM’s SSG Pay and Gmarket’s Smile Pay

Kakao Pay in talks to acquire SSG.COM’s SSG Pay and Gmarket’s Smile Pay

Kakao Pay Corp., the mobile payment and digital wallet service unit of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp., is in advanced negotiations to acquire t...

Dawn delivery pioneer Kurly posts 1st-ever quarterly profit

Dawn delivery pioneer Kurly posts 1st-ever quarterly profit

Kurly Inc., a pioneer in South Korea’s dawn delivery market, has posted its first-ever quarterly profit, bucking a slowdown in private consump...

With Ulta deal, APR steps up US beauty push

With Ulta deal, APR steps up US beauty push

Medicube, the beauty-tech brand under South Korea’s fast-growing beauty company APR Co., will sell its products through both online and offlin...

RedotPay lands in Seoul with crypto cards

RedotPay lands in Seoul with crypto cards

RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based blockchain fintech company, has arrived in South Korea with its cryptocurrency-based payment cards and is poised to disr...

Mubadala, Goldman Sachs to invest $700 mn in Kakao Mobility

Mubadala, Goldman Sachs to invest $700 mn in Kakao Mobility

United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. and Goldman Sachs are set to invest a combined $700 million in Kakao Mobil...

KakaoBank posts record Q1 profit, eyes Thai expansion after Indonesia

KakaoBank posts record Q1 profit, eyes Thai expansion after Indonesia

KakaoBank Corp., a leading South Korean internet-only bank, posted its highest quarterly profit in the first quarter, defying a drop in interest inc...

Coupang’s Q1 revenue up; quarterly dip signals rising competition

Coupang’s Q1 revenue up; quarterly dip signals rising competition

Coupang Inc., South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, extended its year-on-year sales growth with an 11.1% increase to post $7.9 billion in...

Kakao shares sink on SK Telecom’s stake sell-off news

Kakao shares sink on SK Telecom’s stake sell-off news

Kakao Corp. shares underperformed its peers and the broad market on Friday after SK Telecom Co. sold off its entire stake in the South Korean platfo...

StockX in merger talks with Naver’s online reseller Kream

StockX in merger talks with Naver’s online reseller Kream

StockX, the world’s most popular online resale marketplace, is in talks to merge with Kream, a resale unicorn under South Korea’s tech g...

Kakao Entertainment scraps IPO, seeks new buyer

Kakao Entertainment scraps IPO, seeks new buyer

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s largest mobile platform, is looking to sell a majority stake in Kakao Entertainment Corp., dropping a plan to take ...

Kakao Entertainment sheds loss-making units, revives IPO prospects

Kakao Entertainment sheds loss-making units, revives IPO prospects

Kakao Entertainment Corp. has been divesting unprofitable music labels and digital content platforms, which it has gobbled up over the past few year...

VIG taps KDB financing to buy 40% stake in Kakao Mobility

VIG taps KDB financing to buy 40% stake in Kakao Mobility

South Korea’s private equity firm VIG Partners’ buyout of minority stakes in Kakao Mobility Corp., the nation’s most popular taxi-...

Kakao founder Kim to resign as control tower chair

Kakao founder Kim to resign as control tower chair

Kakao Corp. founder Kim Beom-soo, also known as Brian Kim, will step down as chairman of the South Korean tech giant’s top decision-making bod...

Netmarble to launch new game 'RF Online Next'

Netmarble to launch new game 'RF Online Next'

Netmarble Corp., South Korea’s leading game developer, is slated to roll out “RF Online Next” on March 20, a revamp of the old tit...

Kakao set to announce AI partnership with OpenAI

Kakao set to announce AI partnership with OpenAI

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s dominant mobile platform, is expected to unveil a business partnership with OpenAI to incorporate the technology of...

Korean B2B fintech firm Dozn plans Kosdaq IPO for $202.5 mn market cap

Korean B2B fintech firm Dozn plans Kosdaq IPO for $202.5 mn market cap

South Korea’s business-to-business fintech service provider Dozn is planning an initial public offering on the Kosdaq in February for an estim...

AI agent Gentoo poised to revolutionize online shopping

AI agent Gentoo poised to revolutionize online shopping

South Korean artificial intelligence startup Waddle Corp. is gearing up to reshape the online retail industry with artificial intelligence-powered i...

Piccoma tops consumer spending ranking in Japan

Piccoma tops consumer spending ranking in Japan

Kakao Piccoma, a Japanese digital comics app subsidiary of South Korean mobile giant Kakao Corp., topped the consumer spending ranking in the Japane...

Hyundai Motor: First auto brand available for purchase on Amazon Autos

Hyundai Motor: First auto brand available for purchase on Amazon Autos

You can now buy a Hyundai on Amazon.You read that right. You can buy a vehicle on the same site where you purchase dinosaur balloons and roller skat...

K Bank drops 2025 IPO in 3rd Kospi listing cancellation

K Bank drops 2025 IPO in 3rd Kospi listing cancellation

K Bank, a South Korean online lender, said on Wednesday it has again canceled its initial public offering plan amid the languid stock market an...

China's Xiaomi establishes S.Korean branch

China's Xiaomi establishes S.Korean branch

China's IT giant Xiaomi has entered the South Korean market. Xiaomi said on Monday it established its South Korean branch, Xiaomi Korea, and wi...

Kakao Pay backs out of acquisition deal for SSG Pay, Smile Pay Hanwha in talks to buy five-star hotel Paraspara Seoul Kia's Lego-like PV5 with 16 variants to hit market in July Stray Kids make K-pop history with landmark stadium show in Germany S.Korea’s most prominent business leader returns with all charges cleared