| An advertisement for Kakao Piccoma in France. Courtesy of Kakao Piccoma |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Competition is heating up between Naver and Kakao in Europe, not just in Japan, which was initially regarded as the major focus of their global expansion.
Kakao Piccoma, a Japanese subsidiary providing a webtoon subscription service, announced last Friday that it started offering services in France, a country that has shown rapid growth in the digital comics market and a great interest in Asian animation.
“We will enable subscriptions for digital comics produced in France and other European countries,” said Piccoma Europe CEO Kim Hyung-rae, who joined Kakao Piccoma last September when it established the European subsidiary.
Kakao's announcement was made a few days after Naver preemptively reinforced its European operations, confirming last Wednesday that its outgoing CEO, Han Seong-sook, was assigned to manage the company's business strategies in Europe.
| Former Naver CEO Han Seong-sook / Courtesy of Naver |
She is said to be departing from Korea in May to supervise Naver's e-commerce business in Spain and webtoon subscription service in France.
Last year, Naver invested 155 million euros ($172 million) in Wallapop, Spain's largest online marketplace for second-hand products. The Korean firm has also remained the leading digital comic platform in France, where Kakao Piccoma began providing its service as a late mover.
“It is still uncertain which specific tasks will be assigned to Han in Europe,” a Naver official said. “But we expect her to play an important role in other countries, based on her successful achievements in Korea.”
Rivalry in Japan
The two IT firms had previously been expected to focus primarily on their operations in Japan this year.
When Kakao founder Kim Beom-su offered to resign as board chairman last Monday to focus better on leading his company's overseas expansion, Kakao emphasized that Japan will be a foothold for its overseas expansion, hinting at the fierce competition in the Japanese market, which Naver has been dominating.
Naver has continued its expansion in Japan through its instant messaging app LINE, which was launched initially as Naver's Japanese subsidiary and eventually became a SoftBank subsidiary in 2021, after Naver and SoftBank agreed to establish a joint venture controlling both LINE and Yahoo! JAPAN.
Naver founder Lee Hae-jin, who is serving as the company's global investment officer, began leading LINE in 2013 as its chairman, although he stepped down from his position as Naver board chairman in 2017 to focus on his company's overseas expansion.
Against this backdrop, the Kakao founder decided to maintain his position as an inside director of Kakao Piccoma, tasking the Japanese subsidiary with expanding Kakao's presence overseas and discovering new business opportunities.
“Our affiliates have separately expanded their overseas presence, but they will start maximizing the synergy effect under the leadership of Japan's Kakao Piccoma,” Kakao said in a press release. “The founder previously pioneered and made inroads in the Japanese market, when he set up Hangame Japan in 2000.”