Kakao Corp. (KOSDAQ 035720) today reported third quarter financial results under Korean-IFRS. Kakao’s consolidated revenue for the quarter was KRW 229.6 billion with mobile businesses making up 56%. For the third quarter, Kakao focused on actively identifying and promoting new ideas and business opportunities. This led to uniform growth in mobile businesses, and consolidated revenue for the quarter grew 1.4% QoQ and 3.5% YoY. Kakao’s commerce platform showed the greatest growth in…

Daum Kakao Corp., provider of Korea’s number one messaging app KakaoTalk, today announced the official launch of #Search (pronounced ‘sharp search’) and Channel for KakaoTalk. #Search allows users to search and share information directly from the KakaoTalk chatroom, while Channel allows users to access and enjoy interest-based content from directly within the app. The two new features are unprecedented additions for messenger or SNS services, and they take KakaoTalk a step closer…

Microsoft recently announced that it intends to fully enter the Korean internet search market later this year. This does not seem wise in a market that has been utterly dominated by Korean players for over a decade. Yahoo withdrew from the market after a fifteen year failed push into Korea. Google has fared a little better, having now climbed to around 10% – 15% market share, but it has been a long…

Naver and Daum have made a tentative decision to shell out millions of dollars as a form of self-penance for abusing their market dominance in Korea’s internet portal industry, according to the Fair Trade Commission yesterday. As we have reported several times recently their has been concern voiced about the increasing dominance of the two companies in the Korean internet search market. The money will be spent in ways that benefit Internet…