Kakao Entertainment will focus more on its Webtoon platform, Piccoma

It seems like Kakao Entertainment Corp is pivoting strategies during what’s considered a global consolidation period for most of the entertainment industry. The company is seeking to implement corporate restructuring and will focus on its global webtoon platform Kakao Piccoma, which runs webtoon and web novel platforms in Japan and France.

Piccoma launched in Japan in 2016 becoming the country’s top online webtoon and manga service provider. The service delivers webtoons and online manga to Japan, South Korea, China, and the US through its app, and had recently, expanded with Piccoma France in March of 2022.

However, according to a report by The Korea Herald, CEOs Kisu Kweon and Joseph Chang have chosen to change strategies. The two Kakao executives are now more determined than ever to have Kakao Entertainment focus more on organic growth instead of pursuing expensive mergers and acquisitions, specifically for their entertainment verticals for production:

 “We will focus on strengthening the fundamental competitiveness of each business area — music, story, and media, and promote substantial growth by focusing on our capabilities.” 

Kakao Entertainment has also unveiled a new business slogan:

“Content beyond content.”

Before becoming co-CEOs together, Kisu Kweon was the company’s COO and head of their music content division. He also served as CFO at Daum Communications. As for Joseph Chang, he was previously Kakao Entertainment’s global strategy officer, and before that, was the CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Korea along with served as the co-CEO of Sony Music Entertainment’s Asia Hub. 

According to a business report, the company is seeking to expand its music business overseas. Part of this corporate restructuring will be using AI for the company’s music platform, Melon. The move is not the first venture for Kakao Entertainment into AI having released their Helix AI services on their global reading platforms. And the push for AI in music distribution also follows other major online apps and platforms such as Spotify. 

As for its video business, the company plans to separate its video business into a company-in-company (CIC) entity.