Who owns Kakao Friends?
Kakao Friends is owned by Kakao (South Korea, KRX: 035720).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Kakao Company Presentation, February 2026, Kakao Corp, 1 February 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Kakao Corp. reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇰🇷 South Korea, Jeju
- Origin
- 🇰🇷 South Korea
- Founded
- 2012
- Category
- Media & entertainment › Franchises & parks › Entertainment franchises
- Parent ticker
- KRX: 035720
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Kakao Friends
Kakao Friends is the character brand that began in 2012 as the cast of emoticons inside KakaoTalk and grew into a merchandise business with its own shops and online store. The characters are among the most recognisable in South Korea, and the emoticon business remains a distinct revenue line inside Kakao's Talk Biz segment alongside advertising and gifting.
Ownership timeline of Kakao Friends
Where Kakao Friends sits in Kakao
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Kakao ownership tree →
See the full Kakao brand portfolio (6) →
Other brands owned by Kakao
Kakao controls 6 brands on Brandtree.
Founded in the 2010s
Other brands in entertainment franchises, and who owns them
The 18 brands in entertainment franchises on Brandtree belong to 7 owners. The largest is Sanrio, with 8.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Aggretsuko | Sanrio | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Degrassi | WildBrain | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Disney | Disney | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Gundam | Bandai Namco | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Godzilla | TOHO | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| DC | Warner Bros. Discovery | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Cinnamoroll | Sanrio | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Gudetama | Sanrio | 🇯🇵 Japan |
About the owner: Kakao
Kakao is a publicly listed company headquartered in Jeju, South Korea. Brandtree records 6 brands under its control, and it is listed as KRX: 035720.
Kakao is the South Korean internet group built around KakaoTalk, a messaging app with 49 million monthly users in a country of 52 million, and it monetises that position through advertising, gifting and commerce inside the app. Around it sit partly owned subsidiaries covering mobility, payments, banking, music streaming, webtoons and games, most of which Kakao holds well short of outright. Consolidated revenue reached a record 8.1 trillion won in 2025. Its web portal Daum, long the group's second pillar, was separated out as AXZ and left the group; it is absent from Kakao's February 2026 ownership chart.
🇰🇷 Kakao Friends and other South Korean brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 185 brands that began in South Korea. 7 of them (4%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Kakao Friends is not one of them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Kakao Friends?
The parent company of Kakao Friends is Kakao, a publicly listed company headquartered in South Korea.
Is Kakao Friends South Korean?
Yes. Kakao Friends originated in South Korea in 2012 and its owner, Kakao, is also headquartered in South Korea.
Is Kakao Friends still owned by Kakao?
Yes. As of 28 September 2026, Kakao Friends is still owned by Kakao. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Kakao Company Presentation, February 2026 — Kakao Corp., Official document, published 1 February 2026; retrieved 28 September 2026.
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