3) J-WIDE: Kim Tae-ri, Ahn Jae-hong, Lee Bo-young, and 32 other actors.
4) awesomeent: Park Seo-joon, Han Ji-hye, and 15 other actors.
5) VAST Entertainment: Hyun Bin, Lee Jae-wook, and 7 other actors.
Except for SOOP, which is 99.36% owned by KakaoM, the other four are 100% owned by KakaoM.
In addition to the five actor agencies mentioned above, Kingkong Entertainment, which is under STARSHIP Entertainment, has more than 20 actors including Lee Kwang-soo, Lee Dong-wook, and Yoo Yeon-seok.
Furthermore, following its acquisition of the drama production company MEGA MONSTER in 2017 and the establishment of the short video production company GrayGo, it acquired two well-known South Korean film production companies in 2019: Moonlight Film (41% stake) and Sanai Pictures (81% stake).
"Finally, there's internet finance, which is the mobile payment sector. But there's no rush for that. Once Tencent's mobile payment function is complete, we can provide some technical support, as long as Kakao pays us."
BankWalletKakao, developed by Kakao in partnership with the Korea Institute of Financial Telecommunications and Clearing and 16 South Korean banks, facilitates bank transfers and allows users to make online payments using ATM cards.
BankWallet is the second payment service application developed by Kakao, the first being Kakao Pay (2014), which allows Kakao users to pay for e-commerce products and services through KakaoTalk.
Having discussed Kakao's profit model, the next step is to examine Kakao's future plans.
Like Line and WeChat, Kakao's ambitions extend beyond just a messaging app. Based on its business development, Kakao appears to have successfully introduced numerous monetization platforms, generating significant revenue growth with its 48 million monthly active users.
However, given South Korea's small population, Kakao must expand into overseas markets to continue its growth. With the global spread of K-pop, exporting content has become a key focus for Kakao's international expansion. Kakao's Chief Vice President, Bae Jae-hyun, stated in a conference call that he expects the company to become a new global cultural and creative content enterprise within three years.
It is reported that in June 2021, Pica, the webtoon platform operated by Kakao's "Kakao Japan," achieved a 65% market share in Japanese webtoon applications. Bae Jae-hyun stated that Kakao Japan's annual transaction volume target for this year is 1 trillion won (approximately 5.7 billion yuan).
On December 16, 2020, South Korean entertainment company Kakao Entertainment announced that it had acquired the fantasy novel platform Wuxiaworld through its online novel app Radish, in order to expand its novel business. The transaction was valued at $37.5 million.
At the same time, Kakao will also expand into North America with webcomics, following its entry into Japan, and launch a new music service, making a full-scale foray into the global cultural content market. Can Kakao succeed through cultural and creative content?
It's too early to talk about the later stages now. The direction KAKAO is taking is actually the same direction that most internet platforms are taking, only with some differences.
To be honest, Lee Boo-jin didn't understand a word of what Shen Fang said, and Kim Soo-beom only grasped a vague understanding. He only vaguely understood things like online finance and mobile payment, but he did understand about games, e-commerce, and the entertainment industry. In short, Shen Fang had already planned out Kakao's entire path.
Kim Soo-beom exclaimed in response to this man's insightful observation, "Awesome! Chinese people are definitely smarter than Koreans!!!"
"Mr. Shen is truly a genius. Your views and insights have given me many good ideas, and I feel like everything is clear now." Kim Soo-beom looked at Shen Fang with admiration.
Although Kim Soo-beom doesn't quite understand many of the directions Chen Fang mentioned, he's already been using user base building, billboards, games, film and television, and finance for several years now.
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