Kakao Corporation is a South Korean Internet conglomerate headquartered in Jeju City. It was formed through the merger of Daum Communications and the original Kakao Inc in 2010. The company was renamed Daum Kakao in 2014. In 2015 it was rebranded once more, reverting simply to Kakao. In May 2015, the company acquired Path, an American social media company that had become successful in Indonesia. In January 2016, Kakao acquired a 76.4% stake in LOEN Entertainment, a large South Korean entertainment company, for $1.5 billion. It was later rebranded as Kakao M. The company has gained further prominence from KakaoTalk, a free mobile instant messaging application for smartphones with text and call features. By May 2017, the app had 220 million registered users and 47 million active monthly users. As of March 2022, the company is competing with Naver Corporation for dominance in the Japanese web comic and web novel market. Wikipedia