Daum Kakao, the maker of messaging app KakaoTalk, will acquire the social network Path and the messaging app Path Talk, Dave Morin, CEO and cofounder of Path announced Thursday in a post.
KakaoTalk rules in South Korea, where its free messaging service has more than 30 million users. KakaoTalk has about 10 million users outside of South Korea, but has been eyeing ways to expand its geographic reach. Path, a five-year-old San Francisco-based social network, was an appealing target given the strength of its user base in Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, with a population of 250 million. The social network has about 10 million monthly active users.
The acquisition marks Daum's biggest push to expand into other markets. Daum, South Korea’s second-largest online search company, merged with Kakao in October to form Daum Kakao.
"Path and Daum Kakao share an important core value: we both strive to better connect you to the people, places and things that are the most important to you," Morin said in his post. "We have reached a tipping point on our journey and for Path to truly grow we need more resources and a larger local team that deeply understands Southeast Asian markets. Future product updates will continue to improve connecting, sharing and communicating in the Path community."
Daum Kakao said in a statement that the acquisition "marks the first of the many global business approaches" the company will take in the coming years.
Kakao was early to prove the model that messaging apps can be lucrative platforms for selling games and virtual goods, such as coupons and stickers. Nimbler messaging competitors, such as Line in Japan and WeChat in China, ran faster with the idea and established dominance in those countries. WeChat has about 500 million monthly active users, Line has about 170 million and WhatsApp prevails globally with 800 million monthly users.
