Industry sources expect acquisition raises possibility of expanded use of LINE’s IP portfolio, including titles from LINE Manga
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LINE Yahoo! has become the largest shareholder of Kakao Games following a recent stake acquisition, marking a shift in the company’s ownership structure.
Kakao Games CEO Sang-woo Han said on March 26 that no specific management changes or organizational restructuring have been decided. He added that both shareholders currently agree on maintaining stability under the existing system.
The ownership change follows an investment by LINE Yahoo!-backed entity LAAA Investment, which acquired shares from Kakao and participated in new share issuance and convertible bonds. As a result, Kakao, which previously held a 37.57% stake as of the end of last year, will remain as the second-largest shareholder.
Han said the company’s priority is to ensure that upcoming game releases proceed without disruption. While strategic collaboration with LINE Yahoo! has been agreed upon, details will be discussed gradually.
Industry sources expect the acquisition raises the possibility of expanded use of LINE’s intellectual property portfolio, including titles from LINE Manga, for game development. Kakao Games has previously developed games based on webtoon IP, indicating potential synergies between the two companies’ content ecosystems.
Kakao Games is currently developing a game based on the webtoon The Swordmaster’s Son.
Update: WEBTOON Entertainment reached out to ANN to clarify that LINE Manga and LINE Digital Frontier are subsidiaries of WEBTOON Entertainment. ANN has corrected this article.
Source: Newsis (Jung-min Yoon)
