​Kakao To Merge With Music Subsidiary For Content Push

Kakao, owner of South Korea's most popular chat app KakaoTalk, will merge with its music subsidiary Kakao M, the companies announced.

Kakao M -- formerly Loen Entertainment before Kakao bought it for $1.6 billion in 2016 --services Melon, the country's most popular music streaming service.

The merger further aims to capitalize on the popularity of the chat app and music service. KakaoTalk already has a music message feature and an AI speaker, Kakao Mini, launched late last year.

After the merger, Kakao will also form a new subsidiary that will focus on making video content. It will invest and acquire new firms to grow the company into a content and intellectual property power house, it said.

The merger is expected to be approved July 5 and completed September 1.

Kakao is attempting to expand abroad. In March it announced the formation of a blockchain subsidiary that will be based in Japan.

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