Kakao Pursues Acquisition of Management Rights for North American Webtoon Platform 'Tapas'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kakao is pushing to acquire management rights of the North American webtoon platform 'Tapas Media' through its subsidiary Kakao Entertainment.

A Kakao Entertainment official stated on the 11th, "We are pursuing the acquisition of Tapas Media," adding, "The specific acquisition amount and timing have not yet been finalized."

Tapas Media, founded in 2012 in the United States by CEO Kim Changwon, operates 'Tapas,' the first webtoon platform in North America. Kakao Entertainment currently holds a 40.4% stake in the company, incorporating it as an overseas affiliate. The plan is to acquire management rights through additional share purchases.

The push to acquire management rights of Tapas Media is interpreted as a strategy to actively target the North American content market. Kakao Entertainment is also pursuing management rights for Radish, a Canadian web novel platform.

Content competition with Naver in the North American region is expected to intensify. In January, Naver announced it would acquire 100% of the shares of Wattpad, the world's largest web novel platform, for approximately 660 billion KRW. In February, it also invested 33.4 billion KRW in Content First, which operates another webtoon platform, Tapittoon.