KakaoPage Corp. Podotree Co, Ltd. was founded on July 20, 2010, as a subsidiary of Kakao, and launched KakaoPage three years later. On August 1, 2018, the company changed its corporate name to
KakaoPage Corp. Kakao M Seoul Records, Inc. was established in October 1978 by , the founder of South Korea's leading educational company (formerly Sisa English). In 2005, the company was acquired by
SK Telecom and relaunched as
LOEN Entertainment, Inc. three years later, before being sold to Star Invest Holdings (a subsidiary of
Affinity Equity Partners). In January 2016, it was taken over by Kakao and renamed again as
Kakao M Corp. in December 2017. In October 2020, the company expanded in
Asia by launching a Thailand-based subsidiary called
Kakao M Asia (Private) Co., Ltd. (currently
Kakao Entertainment Asia Co., Ltd.).
Merger as Kakao Entertainment (2021–present) In December 2020, KakaoPage Corp. proposed a merger with Kakao M Corp. as a unified company. It was seen as an action by their parent company against US-based
Google’s new policy for its app market place users, which would've affected Kakao M, which
KakaoTV platform was starting to become popular in South Korea. Both companies announced the plans and timeline for their merger, as well as the proposed name for the unified company
Kakao Entertainment Corp on January 25, 2021. Under the plans, KakaoPage Corp. is the surviving entity. The merger was completed on March 1, and Kakao Entertainment was formally founded a day later. Kakao Entertainment acquired Radish Fiction, a serialized fiction app cofounded by
Lee Seung-yoon, for $440 million in May 2021. On July 15, it was announced that Kakao Entertainment and
Melon Company would be merging, with the merger expected to be complete in September 2021. On September 17, Kakao Entertainment announced that
Play M Entertainment and Cre.ker Entertainment would be merging in the future. On November 12, it was announced that the company's new corporate name would be
IST Entertainment, which took effect on November 1. ==Divisions==