New IT giant Daum Kakao launched

By Park Sae-jin Posted : October 1, 2014, 17:24 Updated : October 1, 2014, 17:53

 


Daum Kakao, a new South Korean information technology (IT) giant, was created on Wednesday from the merger of Daum Communications, the country's second-largest Internet portal company, and Kakao Corp., the nation's top mobile messenger service provider. Kakao Corp. is operator of Kakao Talk.

A media event was held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in downtown Seoul to officially launch the merged entity with market capitalization of about 10 trillion won. Daum Communications’ market capitalization was estimated at 2.1 trillion won as of Tuesday.    

The new IT giant is expected to change the landscape of South Korea's portal and mobile social network market that has been dominated by Naver Corp. Naver controls about 70 percent of the market.

Choi Se-hun, former head of Daum, will lead the new entity together with Lee Sirgoo, former head of Kakao.
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