KakaoTalk

South Korean internet company Kakao lost one of its joint CEOs following an outage of its messaging and payment services which lasted several days.

Kakao reportedly acquiesced to pressure from Google to remove an external payment link in the Android version of its messaging app, ending a standoff sparked by the search giant’s refusal to approve the latest version of the service.

South Korean messaging app provider Kakao reported strong profit and revenue growth in the second quarter of 2019, as its efforts to diversify beyond its saturated core business started to pay off.

South Korea-based messaging app provider Kakao detailed plans to go on the offensive by pursuing a range of overseas M&A opportunities, following a successful international funding round.

South Korea’s financial regulator has given preliminary approval to two consortiums ― led by mobile messaging firm Kakao and mobile operator KT ― to set up online-only banks with no physical branches.

South Korean firm Kakao’s bid for a domestic internet banking licence is being bolstered by China’s Tencent and eBay from the US.

Daum Kakao, the company behind South Korea’s popular messaging service KakaoTalk, has named a new CEO to replace its two co-CEOs who have led since the two messaging firms merged in October.