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 ...

The wait is over: BTS are back with new album, global tour in spring 2026

The wait is over: BTS are back with new album, global tour in spring 2026

Now the wait is over.BTS are back – as a full-member group after a four-year hiatus.The seven-member boy band is returning with a new album in...

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...

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...

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...

Shinsegae Chair Chung joins Trump’s Middle East tour

Shinsegae Chair Chung joins Trump’s Middle East tour

Chung Yong-jin, chairman of South Korea’s retail group Shinsegae Inc., is the only Korean businessperson accompanying US President Donald Trum...

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...

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...

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...

Korean entertainment stocks advance, unfazed by US tariff concerns

Korean entertainment stocks advance, unfazed by US tariff concerns

South Korean entertainment and gaming stocks climbed on Friday, defying a broader market drop as investors sought refuge in sectors seen as immune t...

K-pop exports boom as end of Chinese K-wave ban looms large

K-pop exports boom as end of Chinese K-wave ban looms large

Exports of Korean popular music, or K-pop, have seen a significant surge in recent months, driven by increasing demand from China and Japan, accordi...

SM Entertainment acquires additional 11.4% stake in DearU for $9.2 mn

SM Entertainment acquires additional 11.4% stake in DearU for $9.2 mn

SM Entertainment Co., South Korea’s music powerhouse behind internationally popular boy and girl bands like EXO and aespa, has acquired an add...

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...

Korea’s Nextrade stock exchange debuts; YG Entertainment tops 1st day

Korea’s Nextrade stock exchange debuts; YG Entertainment tops 1st day

South Korea’s first alternative stock exchange Nextrade (NXT) started trading on Tuesday, challenging the Korea Exchange’s (KRX) long-st...

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...

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...

Korean entertainment powerhouse K Wave Media to debut on Nasdaq in Feb

Korean entertainment powerhouse K Wave Media to debut on Nasdaq in Feb

K Wave Media Ltd., an umbrella entity of South Korean entertainment companies, is set to go public on the Nasdaq next month in a bid to raise money ...

Seoul office sales rebound for first time in 4 years in 2024

Seoul office sales rebound for first time in 4 years in 2024

The Seoul office market bounced back for the first time in four years in 2024, with transaction volume soaring 78.7% to 13.4 trillion won ($9.1 bill...

Korean stocks diverge: Winners, losers of Yoon’s martial law debacle

Korean stocks diverge: Winners, losers of Yoon’s martial law debacle

South Korean stocks showed clear divergences on Wednesday amid a mixed market outlook as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration, re...

S.Korea's Smilegate invests in GTA producer's studio

S.Korea's Smilegate invests in GTA producer's studio

Smilegate, the South Korean developer of the world’s top first-person shooter game Crossfire, said on Tuesday it invested in the US-based medi...

Korea Zinc’s role questioned in SM Entertainment stock manipulation case

Korea Zinc’s role questioned in SM Entertainment stock manipulation case

When OneAsia Partners, a Seoul-based private equity fund operator, revised part of its PEF Havana I’s articles of association on Feb. 14, 2023...

SM's UK K-pop group Dear Alice to debut with Gamma

SM's UK K-pop group Dear Alice to debut with Gamma

South Korea's SM Entertainment Co. partnered with the US-based music label "Gamma." to globally debut its first British K-Pop boy group Dear Alice.A...

CJ CheilJedang puts bio business on market for $4 bn

CJ CheilJedang puts bio business on market for $4 bn

CJ CheilJedang Corp., South Korea’s largest food company, is seeking to sell its bio business for about 6 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in what ...

Kakao Mobility, Samyang Logistics partner on fulfillment services

Kakao Mobility, Samyang Logistics partner on fulfillment services

Kakao Mobility Corp., South Korea’s most popular ride-hailing app operator, said on Monday that it partnered with logistics firm Samyang Logis...

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