News

Kakao Entertainment to Shut Down N. American Webtoon Platform Tapas

Kakao Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it plans to shut down its North American webtoon platform Tapas. This will mark the end a major part of its direct platform strategy in the region five years after investing about 1.1 trillion won (about US$780 million) to acquire Tapas and webnovel platform Radish. Korean news outlet Money Today reported that Kakao Entertainment plans to notify publishers and rights holders about the Tapas shutdown on Tuesday, including details on the service's end date, content management and settlements.

The company has not announced any details regarding user refunds and the handling of content and user data.

Kakao Entertainment acquired Tapas and Radish in 2021, valuing the two companies at about US$510 million and US$440 million, respectively at the time. The two platforms later merged into Tapas Entertainment in 2022.

Kakao Entertainment shut down Radish in 2025, saying that it would focus its North American story business on Tapas. The planned Tapas shutdown would effectively end Kakao Entertainment's direct operation of its North American webtoon and webnovel platforms.

In South Korea, Kakao Entertainment plans to consolidate its two webtoon platforms, Kakao Page and Kakao Webtoon, into a single platform centered on Kakao Page by the end of the year. The company plans to bring together the platforms' content, user data and about 16,000 original IPs.

Sources: Kakao Entertainment, Money Today (link 2, Pyung-hwa Kim, Se-gwan Kim), YNA (Ga-hye Ko)