{"id":2020,"date":"2026-05-04T22:54:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/2020\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:54:33","slug":"ly-corp-acquires-majority-stake-in-kakao-games-with-198m-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/2020\/","title":{"rendered":"LY Corp acquires majority stake in Kakao Games with $198m investment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe investment combines stake acquisition with new shares and convertible bonds to strengthen Kakao Games\u2019 capital base.<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKakao Games plans to deploy the funding to accelerate international expansion beyond its domestic market.<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJapan has been identified as a priority market for collaboration between Kakao Games and LY Corporation.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.biz\/subscribe\/\" class=\"art-subscribe\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\tStay Informed<\/p>\n<p>Get Industry News In Your Inbox\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Sign Up Today<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>LY Corporation has become the largest shareholder in Odin: Valhalla Rising developer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.biz\/industry\/kakao-games\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kakao Games<\/a> following a strategic investment of approximately \u20a9300 billion ($198 million).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.sedaily.com\/news\/2026\/03\/25\/ly-corp-becomes-largest-shareholder-of-kakao-games-with-300\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Seoul Economic Daily<\/a>, the transaction will be executed through LAAA Investment, a special-purpose investment vehicle funded by LY Corporation, formerly known as LINE Yahoo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, LAAA Investment will acquire a portion of Kakao\u2019s existing stake in Kakao Games while also subscribing to newly issued shares and convertible bonds. The deal is expected to close in May.<\/p>\n<p>Once completed, Kakao will step down to become the second-largest shareholder while maintaining a strategic partnership with the company.<\/p>\n<p>Global expansion focus<\/p>\n<p>Kakao Games said the capital injection will be used to strengthen its competitiveness in international markets and support long-term growth initiatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the company also plans to expand collaboration with LY Corporation across key regions, particularly Japan, as it seeks to scale its publishing and service capabilities beyond its domestic base.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the agreement, contractual provisions have also been introduced to guarantee employment stability for executives and employees and preserve existing working conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis strategic investment and ownership restructuring marks an important turning point for Kakao Games to elevate its global competitiveness and build a foundation for sustainable growth,&#8221; said a Kakao Games spokesperson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will expand new growth opportunities in global markets through collaboration with partners including Kakao and LY Corporation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kakao Games has worked on titles across platforms, including Odin: Valhalla Rising, Chrono Odyssey, GranSaga Idle, SMiniz and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The investment combines stake acquisition with new shares and convertible bonds to strengthen Kakao Games\u2019 capital base. Kakao&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[622],"tags":[1824,1823,958,827,1821,1822,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-2020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kakao","8":"tag-acqisition","9":"tag-acquisition","10":"tag-investment","11":"tag-kakao","12":"tag-kakao-games","13":"tag-ma","14":"tag-south-korea"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}