Messaging-app company Kakao merges with web-portal Daum in $3B deal

Kakao, a South Korean company with a popular mobile text-messaging and gaming application, will essentially go public as it forms a merger with publicly traded Korean web portal-company Daum Communications. The two companies announced the deal today.

The deal is a reverse takeover, Bloomberg reported today. Altogether, it comes out to 3.1 trillion won ($3.03 billion), according to the Wall Street Journal. Kakao will get three-quarters of a new company called Daum Kakao.