Kakao Entertainment to Shut Down Web Novel Platform Radish by End of 2025
Kakao Entertainment, the parent company of webtoon platform Tapas, will shut down Radish, its English-language web novel platform in the United States, by December 31, 2025. Radish announced the decision through an in-app notice on July 9, stating it had made “the difficult decision to wind down the Radish app.”Radish was founded in 2016 by Seung-yoon Lee and became widely known when Kakao Entertainment acquired the company in 2021 for 500 billion KRW (approximately US$440 million at the time). The move was part of kakao's aggressive global expansion strategy, which also included acquiring webtoon platform Tapas and launching services in Southeast Asia.kakao has since operated three platforms in North America — Tapas, Radish, and Wuxiaworld — under the Tapas Entertainment umbrella. However, only Radish will be discontinued at this time.Although the company did not specify the reason for the shutdown, slowing revenue growth is believed to be a key factor. kakao previously acknowledged a 460 billion KRW impairment loss on goodwill related to Tapas, citing challenges in the North American market.The closure marks another step in kakao's ongoing global restructuring. In October 2023, the company exited Taiwan and Indonesia, and earlier this month, it announced the shutdown of kakao Webtoon Thailand, which will be replaced by a new Kakao Page service later this year.Following these changes, kakao's remaining global story IP platforms include Tapas and Wuxiaworld in North America, Piccoma in Japan, and the upcoming Kakao Page Thailand.A Kakao Entertainment spokesperson said the decision is part of a broader effort to “refocus global strategy” by consolidating operations and strengthening Tapas as the core platform in North America.Source: YNA (Kyung-yoon Kim)
