Kakao Entertainment Completes Merger with Melon... Integrated Reorganization of Story, Music, and Media

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kakao Entertainment has completed the merger process with Melon Company and officially launched on the 1st. Moving away from the three CICs (Company-In-Company) system of Page Company, M Company, and Melon Company, it has undergone an integrated reorganization centered on three major business areas: story, music, and media.

Story Division Targets Domestic Market with KakaoPage and KakaoWebtoon

First, Kakao Enter's story division is centered on two platforms: KakaoWebtoon and KakaoPage. Especially, KakaoWebtoon, launched last month, successfully settled in the domestic market by showcasing a beautiful IPX (IP eXperience) that captures the dynamism of IP. In Thailand, KakaoWebtoon continues its steep growth trajectory. Based on cumulative sales in both major markets during August, it ranked first, surpassing all competing platforms.

Kakao Enter plans to accelerate the global expansion of Korean story IP by leveraging its global success know-how to broaden its reach to Europe, Greater China, and ASEAN within the year. It aims to continue the success of Kakao Enter's story IP in the North American market, centered on North American platforms Tapas and Radish, which were incorporated as subsidiaries of Kakao Enter in the first half of the year.

Music Division Begins Synergy Between Melon and Music Business

In the music division, the music planning, investment, and distribution businesses led by Melon and the existing M Company combine to begin full-scale synergy. Kakao Enter plans and produces 12,000 songs annually through collaborations with various artists, including its affiliated labels such as Starship, Play M, Flex M, and Cracker, and holds a total distribution library of about 70,000 songs.

With the organic integration with Melon, which has a total membership of 33 million and over 5 million paid members, it is expected to further strengthen its competitiveness as a leading K-pop company.

Melon, newly incorporated into Kakao Enter, aspires to become an innovative platform through continuous structural improvements. Following the introduction of the TOP100 chart, significant changes such as enhancing user convenience through platform UX/UI redesign and strengthening artist-centered operational policies are forthcoming.

User linkage plans among Kakao Enter’s representative platforms such as Melon, KakaoPage, and KakaoWebtoon will also be further strengthened. Starting with events that provide KakaoPage and KakaoWebtoon cash to Melon members, they are exploring various ways to offer diverse benefits to platform users within the Kakao community.

Media Division Produces Premium Content Centered on Top Creators

The media division accelerates the video content business encompassing all platforms from mobile to TV and screen, based on planning and production capabilities, networks, and infrastructure secured around top creators. It plans to secure content competitiveness based on the content value chain and focus its capabilities on planning and producing super IPs aimed at the global market.

Kakao Enter has its own drama planning organization and KakaoTV Original Studio, as well as multiple drama and film production companies such as Logos Film, Baram Pictures, and film company Wolgwang under its umbrella, producing and presenting about 60 original video content titles annually. In particular, it plans to focus on planning and producing premium drama and film IPs centered on about 80 top creators including domestic writers and directors, and about 150 star actors.

Lee Jin-su, CEO of Kakao Entertainment, said, "Through the merger promoted since the beginning of the year, we have finally completed a unique ‘IP value chain’ that only Kakao Enter can achieve, spanning story, music, and media," adding, "Based on this, we will leap to become the number one entertainment business in Korea and expand our influence in the global market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.