# Kakao

Kakao Corporation (Korean: 카카오) is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Jeju City. It was formed through the merger of Daum Communications and the original Kakao Inc in 2010. The company was renamed Daum Kakao in 2014. In 2015, it was rebranded once more, reverting simply to Kakao.
The KakaoTalk messaging app dominates in South Korea, and after launching in March 2010, the service gained around 90% of domestic market share in 2015. In January 2016, Kakao acquired a 76.4% stake in LOEN Entertainment, a large South Korean entertainment company, for $1.5 billion; it was later rebranded to Kakao M. The company has gained further prominence through KakaoTalk, a free mobile instant messaging application for smartphones, with text and call features.

## History
### 2006–2014: Founding of Kakao Corp.

Kakao Corp is the company behind KakaoTalk, which serves as its main platform and flagship application. It was founded in 2006 by Kim Bum-soo, the former CEO of NHN Corporation (the organization that emerged from the Hangame and Naver.com merger) as Kakao Inc. Kakao Corp. (then known as Kakao Inc.) is based in Seoul, South Korea. Manson Yeo and Sean Joh serve as the current co-CEOs.
In August 2013, three of globally ranked top 10 Android games (according to analytics provider App Annie) are tied into the KakaoTalk platform—Everybody’s Marble, Cookie Run, and Anipang. With 93 percent of South Korea's users on KakaoTalk, the free downloads of the games Ani Pang and Dragon Flight, which can only be played with a Kakao Talk account, were deemed "national" games. To maintain simplicity across all the provided services, Kakao applications can be purchased and logged in with links to KakaoTalk. Kakao Corp generated revenue of approximately $200M (USD) in 2013 through gaming, digital content, mobile commerce, and its marketing channels for brands and celebrities. Kakao Corp. was named a Top Developer on Google's Android Market, and KakaoTalk was chosen as the number one Free SMS App by Cnet.
According to a December 2013 App Annie report, Kakao is the world's third top publisher by monthly revenue at Google Play. Kakao Corp. is the number one publisher for iOS and Google Play in South Korea, and KakaoTalk is the number one app for iOS and Google Play revenue in South Korea. KakaoTalk was nominated for the Most Innovative Mobile App Award at the Global Mobile Awards 2014. Kakao Corp. agreed to buy Daum Communications Corp, to cut costs and save time to jump-start growth and gain a listing in Seoul, South Korea.
Kakao Corp's full suite of apps includes: KakaoTalk, KakaoStory, KakaoTaxi, KakaoAccount, KakaoMap, KakaoDriver, KakaoBus, KakaoMusic, KakaoGroup, KakaoHome, KakaoPlace, KakaoAlbum, KakaoPage, KakaoStyle, and KakaoAgit.

### 2014–2015: Merger of Daum and Kakao

On 26 May 2014, Kakao Corp. announced that it had decided to merge with Daum Communications, one of Korea's top Internet portals, through a stock swap. market capitalization, enabling it to lodge a credible threat to Naver, which is South Korea's biggest web portal.
In 2015, the company changed its name to Kakao, restoring its pre-merger name. Due to gambling and censorship issues within the Kakao ecosystem, the organization's board of directors ejected Kim-beom-soo as CEO and decided to replace him with Rim Ji-hoon. Kim Beom-soo become the largest shareholder in the new pro forma company with a 22.2 percent stake.

### 2016–present: New business model

Kakao was approved by South Korean regulators to become the nation's first internet-only bank in 2017. The internet bank engages in the same business as commercial banks, including processing deposits, loans and wiring money. Consumers will no longer need to visit a bank to open a new bank account or to get a loan. Kakao's business plan was considered innovative, and the company's business model was expected to secure sizable customer sign-ups relatively easily, based on the users of KakaoTalk, which is the country's most popular messaging application.
Although K Bank eventually became South Korea's first Internet-only bank having been launched several months prior, Kakao Bank immediately attracted more customers; 820,000 within four days of its launch on 27 July 2017. The dedicated Kakao Bank app itself was downloaded 1.5 million times within the same period. The bank had 3.5 million customers after a month. These figures trounced the 400,000 users that K-Bank amassed within 100 days of its existence.
By 26 September 2017, Kakao Bank lent ₩1.4 trillion ($1.2 billion), constituting 40 percent of the total loans in all of South Korea for that particular month. The bank's unprecedented expansion is seen as an exception to the closure of banks, particularly foreign-owned institutions. The fledgling performance for these banks is being blamed on the high cost of maintaining brick-and-mortar operations and the popularity of internet finance among Korean consumers.
On 10 March 2015, Daum Kakao launched their KakaoTaxi service that allows users to call a taxi using the KakaoTaxi application. About 600,000 taxi-consumers used the ride-hailing platform every day within eight months of its launch.
In 2017, KakaoTaxi was renamed to Kakao T. The service includes the premium extension Kakao Taxi Black, which allows users to book rides in Seoul via the messenger app, exclusively carried in luxury cars such as Mercedes Benz, Lexus, and BMW. Fares for the premium service start at ₩8,000. Kakao announced plans to expand the offering to other Korean cities within the following year. Kakao announced in April 2019 that they would be launching a e-bike sharing service with an initial fleet of 400 bikes across two major cities.

## Products and services
### KakaoTalk

KakaoTalk commonly referred to as KaTalk in South Korea, is an instant messenger and online services platform operated by Kakao Corporation.

### Kakao Entertainment

Kakao Entertainment Corp is a South Korean entertainment, mass media, and publishing company founded in 2021.

### KakaoStyle

KakaoStyle is a mobile application that curates and aggregates fashion content, links, stores, and information from various websites. KakaoTalk users are able to discover various fashion trends using the app, and see their friend's interests. The app gives suggestions, and links to purchase clothing and various items.

### KakaoPay

Kakao Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Kakao based in South Korea that allows users to make mobile payments and online transactions. The service supports contactless payments using near-field communications and QR codes.

### KakaoBank

KakaoBank Corp. is a South Korean financial institution specializing in mobile banking services and financial technology. It was founded in 2016 through a collaboration between Korea Investment Holdings and Kakao Corp.

### Kakao T

Kakao T is a Korean transportation service app launched in 2017 by Kakao Mobility Corp., a subsidiary of Kakao. The service provides taxi-hailing, designated driver booking, nearby parking space searching, and real-time traffic information service.

### Kakao Games

Kakao Games Corp. is a South Korean video game publisher and a subsidiary of Kakao. It specializes in developing and publishing games on PC, mobile, and VR platforms.

### Others

* KakaoBus: real-time location and traffic information on buses.
* KakaoMetro: metro line app, allows users to view the metro map, plan trips, and check prices.
* KakaoStory: image, video, and music sharing service
* KakaoPage: web-based comic and novel service
* Brunch: mobile contents publishing service
* KakaoMusic: music app with sharing features
* Melon: music streaming service acquired through Kakao M
* PotPlayer: media player for Windows
* KakaoHairshop: service, finding a nearby beauty salon
* Klaytn: consumer blockchain platform for mobile payments (via its subsidiary Ground X)
* KakaoFriends: diverse products including finance, distribution, foods, and so on
* KakaoHello: Call app service based on Kakao account
* KakaoTV: integrates Kakao TV Live broadcasting with KakaoTalk's open chatting
* KakaoHome: service, managing Smartphone home display
* KakaoPlace: service, sharing famous places
* KakaoAlbum: sharing pictures with Kakao friends

## subsidiary
### Investment

* Kakao INV: Investment in late stage startups.
* Kakao Ventures: Venture Capital for early stage startups.