Kakao Entertainment's web content units to be merged

Kakao Entertainment's two U.S. web content subsidiaries, Tapas Media and Radish Media, will merge in August, Kakao Entertainment said Thursday. The merger was approved by the two U.S. companies' boards Wednesday. The merged company will be led by ..

The logos of Kakao Entertainment, Tapas Media and Radish [KAKAO ENTERTAINMENT]

Kakao Entertainment's two U.S. web content subsidiaries, Tapas Media and Radish Media, will merge in August, Kakao Entertainment said Thursday.

The merger was approved by the two U.S. companies’ boards Wednesday. The merged company will be led by Tapas CEO Kim Chang-won. The deal will be complete on Aug. 1.

In the merger, the companies were combined at a ratio of 18 shares of Radish to one share of Tapas Media. The merged company will be 97.54 percent owned by Kakao Entertainment.

“The merger will boost Kakao Entertainment’s global growth, providing an umbrella for three existing digital storytelling platforms: Tapas, Radish and Asian fantasy fiction platform Wuxiaworld,” Kakao Entertainment said in a press release.

Wuxiaworld is a Hong Kong-based English-language fantasy web novel service and the largest of its kind in Asia. It was bought by Kakao Entertainment last December for $37.5 million.

Tapas Media and Radish were acquired by Kakao Entertainment in May 2021 for $510 million and $440 million each. Tapas Media, based in San Francisco, specializes in webtoons and Radish is a web novel service headquartered in New York.

Tapas Media and Radish has a combined pool of more than 100,000 creators including both webtoonists and storywriters.

The new company, whose name has not been decided, will focus on expanding its web content into other forms, including audio, metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFT). It will start by adapting popular works into audio stories this summer.

“The agreement will provide a major leap forward for Kakao Entertainment in the burgeoning K-content industry and offer exciting new opportunities in the North American storytelling market,” said Lee Jin-soo, CEO of Kakao Entertainment.

In a statement last December, Kakao Entertainment said it wanted to triple its global transactions volume over the next three years.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]