Chat app maker Kakao is merging with Korea’s second largest portal company Daum

May26

by Sindy Cator on May 26, 2014 at 2:31 am

Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, kakao, kakao talk, Korea

Kakao, the Korea-based company behind the Kakao Talk mobile messaging app, is merging with Daum, the country’s second largest internet portal. The news is surprising, since Kakao had been tipped to go public before 2015 at a valuation of over $2 billion. The Yonhap News Agency reports that the merger – which is a stock swap arrangement — will create a company worth three trillion Korean won ($2.9 billion) but there is no confirmed price at this point. The new entity — ‘Daum Kakao’ — will become the second largest company listed on the KOSDAQ, according to the news agency. Daum announced the merger…