Kakao in talks to acquire U.S. web storytelling platform Radish

Kakao Corp., operator of South Korea’s largest messenger app, is seeking to take full control of global web fiction platform Radish to bolster contents portfolio in wary of Naver’s much-hyped acquisition of Wattpad.

According to multiple industry sources on Sunday, Kakao’s content subsidiary Kakao Entertainment has been in discussions for management control in Radish, a mobile fiction platform for storytelling that received 76 billion won in investment from Kakao’s content platform unit Kakao Page last year.

Kakao Page merged with another content subsidiary Kakao M in March to rebrand as Kakao Entertainment.

When Radish pulled in investment from Kakao, it announced that it will appoint Lee Jin-soo, chief executive of Kakao Page, Lee Joon-pyo, chief executive of SoftBank Ventures, and Kim Sang-heon, former chief executive of Naver, as its outside directors.

[Photo provided by Radish]

Radish, founded by Seoul-native Lee Seung-yoon, a graduate of Oxford University, raised 23 billion won in sales last year, placing itself as the fifth-largest web fiction platform in the United States.

An unnamed official from Kakao said the company is continuously putting out efforts to enhance its IP capacity but did not confirm the acquisition. Details on financial terms were also not disclosed although it is estimated at about 400 billion won, which would make Kakao’s biggest M&A since its 1.9 trillion won acquisition of LOEN Entertainment in 2016.

Kakao’s move, if realized, would come after Korean internet giant Naver’s acquisition of Wattpad Corp., a Toronto-based social storytelling platform. The takeover was aimed at boosting its global content business and creating synergy with its entertainment units.

Shares of Kakao rose 0.2 percent to close at 502,000 won on Monday.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]