SK Hynix Eyes Up to $14 Billion U.S. IPO to Fund AI Chip Expansion 
OpenAI Pulls the Plug on Sora, Ending $1 Billion Disney Partnership 
Nintendo Switch 2 Production Cut as Holiday Sales Miss Targets 
Innate Pharma Reports 55% Revenue Drop and €49.2M Net Loss for 2025 
SpaceX IPO Filing Expected This Week as Valuation Could Surpass $75 Billion 
Delivery Hero Sells Taiwan Foodpanda to Grab for $600 Million in Debt-Reduction Push 
Golden Dome Missile Defense: Anduril and Palantir Join Forces on Trump's $185B Space Shield 
Explosion and Fire Erupt at Valero Oil Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas 
SLMG Beverages Eyes Price Hikes Amid Rising Packaging Costs and India's Booming Soft Drink Market 
Goldman Sachs Raises ECB Rate Hike Forecast Amid Persistent Energy-Driven Inflation 
Rio Tinto's Resolution Copper Mine: U.S. Smelting Challenges and Global Operations Update 
Lynas Rare Earths Signs Vietnam Deal with LS Eco Energy to Boost Magnet Metal Production 
Sonova Shares Slip as Hearing Aid Giant Lowers Growth Outlook and Plans Sennheiser Exit 
Finnair Orders 18 Embraer E195-E2 Jets in Landmark Fleet Overhaul 
AWS Bahrain Region Disrupted by Drone Activity Amid Middle East Conflict 
Henkel in Advanced Talks to Acquire Olaplex at $2 Per Share 
Kakao Mobility Corp. is getting a $44.15 million investment from Google. The American tech company is investing by buying new shares amounting to KRW56.51 billion.
Google’s investment was revealed through Kakao Corporation’s, Kakao Mobility’s parent company, regulatory filing that was submitted on April 1, Thursday. According to Yonhap News Agency, the deal will raise S. Korea’s leading taxi-hailing firm’s total value to KRW3.35 trillion.
The deal between Google and Kakao Mobility
Based on the investment deal, Kakao Mobility will award Google a 1.69 stake in the company. Currently, its taxi-hailing service called Kakao T has 28 million users, so the investment is good.
The two companies also agreed to work together in the development and advancement of cloud-based AI technology. Moreover, they will collaborate on Kakao Mobility and Google operating systems and software.
With this team up, they are expected to face competition against newly-launched UT, a joint business by SK Telecom’s subsidiary T Map Mobility Co. and U.S.’s Uber Technologies Inc. T Map Mobility's service called T Map Taxi is the next biggest taxi-hailing service in S. Korea after Kakao T. It has 750,000 monthly active users that are being served by its 200,000 registered drivers.
Maximizing the partnership and investment
Kakao Mobility further revealed that along with Google, they would be exploring more business opportunities to maximize their joint effort. Apparently, the alliance goes further than a simple investment, but they want to jointly discover new technologies and market them in both domestic and global stages.
“Through a long-term partnership with Google, Kakao Mobility will maximize synergy to become a global key player,” The Korea Herald quoted Kakao Mobility CEO Alex Ryu, aa saying. “Kakao will also serve as a hub business helping Korean businesses with innovative services.”
Frank Lin, Google exec who heads and oversees corporate investment in Asia, said that Kakao Mobility has been providing various mobility services in South Korea and Google is happy to give its support to the company. Meanwhile, it was reported that Google would complete the investment deal by turning over the full payment by April 22.
