Kakao Decides Not to Sell Kakao Entertainment - Businesskorea

Atlantic Music Group and Kakao Entertainment have formed a partnership to create more K-pop opportunities.

South Korean prosecutors have asked an appeals court to jail Kakao Corp. founder Kim Beom-su for 15 years over the alleged manipulation of SM Entertainment‘s share price. The request was made at the final hearing of Kim’s appeal at the Seoul High Court on Wednesday (September 23). It matches the sentence prosecutors sought in full at Kim‘s first trial, which ended in his acquittal in October 2025. Prosecutors also asked the court to fine Kim KRW 510 million (USD $377,000), according to Yonhap News Agency, via Reuters. They requested a 12-year term and a fine of the same size for Bae Jae-hyun, Kakao’s former chief investment officer, Seoul Economic Daily reported. Fines of KRW 500 million each were sought against Kakao Corp. and Kakao Entertainment, which face charges under South Korea’s “dual punishment” rule, which extends criminal liability to a company for offenses committed by its executives. Prosecutors sought a nine-year term for Kim Sung-soo, the former CEO of Kakao Entertainment, and seven-year terms for former Kakao CEO Hong Eun-taek and former Kakao investment strategy head Kang Ho-jung.

Disney has struck a K-Pop deal with Kakako in Korea as it seeks the next 'KPop Demon Hunters'.

Global private equity firm Anchor Equity Partners is seeking to refinance the acquisition loan backed by its stake in South Korea's Kakao Entertainment Corp., as rising interest rates increase its borrowing costs for the recapitalization amid a lack of exit options. The Hong Kong-based buyout firm is currently in talks with several financial institutions, arranged by South Korea's JB Woori Capital Co., over the terms and structure of the refinancing, according to investment banking industry sources in Seoul on Wednesday. The loan is scheduled to mature at the end of this year. They are reportedly weighing a structure where JB Woori Capital sets up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to securitize the loan receivables, as securities firms have offered conservative interest rates that fell short of Anchor's expectations, the sources said. RECAPITALIZATION IN 2021Anchor first tapped the debt markets in 2021, when it and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Ltd. pledged a combined stake of 14.3% in Kakao Entertainment, then known as Kakao Page and Kakao M, for recapitalization.