By Yoon Sung-won
Kakao is considering listing its subsidiary in Japan on the stockmarket there, based on its rapidly growing mobile webtoon business, the company said on Tuesday.
According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, Kakao is talking with Nomura Securities about listing on the Tokyo bourse by 2020.
A Kakao official said, "We are reviewing multiple options to continue the rapid growth of Kakao Japan, but nothing specific has been decided yet," a Kakao official said.
Kakao leads the Korean mobile instant messenger market with about 43 million Kakao Talk users here. But it has failed to replicate this success overseas in Japan and Southeast Asian countries, overwhelmed by Tencent's WeChat and Naver's LINE.
After the not-so-impressive launch of Kakao Talk's Japanese version in 2010, the company has chosen to focus on Japan's extensive cartoon market.
Tapping into its expertise in the webtoon business, which originated from Daum Communication, Kakao released a webtoon platform called "Piccoma" in April through Kakao Japan.
Piccoma's unique business model allows customers to pay for each chapter instead of an entire book. Piccoma also allows users to access free chapters 24 hours after they are uploaded.
These profit models have created demand from people seeking for instant entertainment content. In August, Piccoma offered more than 1,000 webtoon titles with more than 900,000 average daily users.
Kakao Japan CEO Kim Jae-yong said Kakao planned to expand its mobile webtoon business to China by tapping into its partnership with Tencent.
Tencent's subsidiary Maximo holds 8 percent of Kakao. The two have also collaborated in the internet cartoon and finance service sectors.