# Kakao Entertainment

Kakao Entertainment Corp. (Korean: 주식회사 카카오엔터테인먼트; stylized as kakao ENTERTAINMENT) is a South Korean entertainment, mass media, and publishing company founded in 2021. A subsidiary of the Internet company Kakao, it was established subsequent to the merger of the latter's two subsidiaries KakaoPage and Kakao M.

## History
### KakaoPage Corp.

Podotree Co, Ltd. was founded on July 20, 2010, as a subsidiary of Kakao, and launched KakaoPage three years later. On August 1, 2018, the company changed its corporate name to KakaoPage Corp.

### Kakao M

Seoul Records, Inc. was established in October 1978 by Min Young-bin [ko], the founder of South Korea's leading educational company YBM Group [ko] (formerly Sisa English). In 2005, the company was acquired by SK Telecom and relaunched as LOEN Entertainment, Inc. three years later, before being sold to Star Invest Holdings (a subsidiary of Affinity Equity Partners).
In January 2016, it was taken over by Kakao and renamed again as Kakao M Corp. in December 2017.
In October 2020, the company expanded in Asia by launching a Thailand-based subsidiary called Kakao M Asia (Private) Co., Ltd. (currently Kakao Entertainment Asia Co., Ltd.).

### Merger as Kakao Entertainment (2021–present)

In December 2020, KakaoPage Corp. proposed a merger with Kakao M Corp. as a unified company. It was seen as an action by their parent company against US-based Google’s new policy for its app market place users, which would've affected Kakao M, which KakaoTV platform was starting to become popular in South Korea.
Both companies announced the plans and timeline for their merger, as well as the proposed name for the unified company Kakao Entertainment Corp on January 25, 2021. Under the plans, KakaoPage Corp. is the surviving entity.
The merger was completed on March 1, and Kakao Entertainment was formally founded a day later.
On July 15, it was announced that Kakao Entertainment and Melon Company would be merging, with the merger expected to be complete in September 2021.
On September 17, Kakao Entertainment announced that Play M Entertainment and Cre.ker Entertainment would be merging in the future. On November 12, it was announced that the company's new corporate name would be IST Entertainment, which took effect on November 1.

## Divisions
### Page Company

Headed by co-CEO Joy Lee, the Kakao Entertainment's Page Company is in charge of the company's web fiction publishing and web development business. It is situated in Pangyo, Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province.

### M Company

Headed by co-CEO Stephan Kim [ko], the Kakao Entertainment's M Company is in charge of the company's entertainment and mass media business. Its headquarters is in Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu in Seoul.

## Subsidiaries
### Under the Page Company

* AdPage
* Daon Creative
* KW Books
* Kiwi Vine
* RS Media
* Radish Media
* Samyang C&C
* Soundist Entertainment
* Tapas Media
* Yeondam

### Under the M Company
#### Entertainment companies

* Antenna Music
* EDAM Entertainment
* High Up Entertainment
* Starship Entertainment
** Starship X
** Highline Entertainment

#### Talent companies

* Awesome ENT
* BH Entertainment
* J.Wide Company
* King Kong by Starship
* Management SOOP
* Ready Entertainment
* VAST Entertainment & Media

#### Production companies

* 3Y Corporation
* Baram Pictures
* Dolphiners Films
* GRAYGO
** Maison de Baja
* Kross Pictures
* Logos Film
* Mega Monster
* Moonlight Film
* Sanai Pictures
* Shownote
* Story & Pictures Media
* Studio K11O
* Zip Cinema

## Assets
### Buildings

* Jungsuck Building (Seoul) - headquarters of the Kakao Entertainment M Company
* The Kakao Entertainment M Company also owns a building at Samseong-dong in Seoul, where the headquarters of IST Entertainment and Flex M are located.

### Internet properties

* 1theK
** 1theK Live
** 1theK Originals
** 1theK Style (coming soon)
* KakaoPage
** KakaoPage Indonesia (formerly Neobazar) (Indonesia)
* KakaoTV
* Kakao Webtoon
** Kakao Webtoon (South Korea) (formerly Daum Webtoon)
** Kakao Webtoon (Indonesia)
** Kakao Webtoon (Taiwan)
** Kakao Webtoon (Thailand)
* Melon
* Muse (mobile audition application)
* Radish (US)
** Wuxiaworld (US)
* Tapas (US)

## Locations

* Kakao Entertainment Page Company: Twosun World Building 8/F, 221, Pangyoyeok-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
* Kakao Entertainment M Company: Jungsuck Building, 17, Teheran-ro 103-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

## Extra info

* Tachiyomi, A free and open-source Manga, Manhwa etc. reader app, was forced to stop development after Kakao Entertainment issued a cease-and-desist letter to the developers.