Kakao to acquire S. Korea's top music streaming provider

South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp. said Monday it will take over a controlling stake in LOEN Entertainment Inc., expanding its business scope to cover music streaming.

Under the plan, Kakao will purchase a 76.4 percent stake of the country's leading provider of music streaming services for about 1.87 trillion won ($1.54 billion).

KakaoTalk, South Korea's most favored mobile messenger, is used by around 37 million users in the country with a population of 50 million.

LOEN operates the music streaming service MelOn that has 28 million local users.

"Music is one of the most loved content genres in the mobile era. It is also incredibly powerful in that one song can set trends for an entire generation and highly influence global pop culture," said Jimmy Rim, CEO of Kakao. (Yonhap)