Kakao Corp., the leading mobile messaging and service provider in South Korea, and Daum Communications Corp., the leading web portal, have reached agreement to merge. The name of the new company will be Daumkakao. The deal values KaKao Corp. at 2.3 trillion won ($2.2 billion), according to Bloomberg.
KaKao operates the most popular mobile messaging app, KaKao Talk, in South Korea. With the first version of KaKao Talk launched in 2010, the company reported $203 million in total revenues in 2013, with $59 million in net profits. It’s revenue sources include revenue shares from third-party mobile games on the platform, emoticon sales, revenue shares from mobile music service KaKao Music and m-commerce platform KaKao Style, among others.
KaKao Corp. previously had a plan to go public next year. Daum Communications Corp. (KOSDAQ:035720) got listed on KOSDAQ in 1999. The deal will be completed by October 1st.
The two companies will hold a press conference this afternoon. More details will be added then.
Tracey Xiang / tracey@technode.com
Source : South Korean Daum and KaKao to Merge
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