South Korean messaging giant Kakao’s manga business is pushing back plans to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange until next year, aiming for a valuation of $6 billion or more.
Manga app operator Kakao Piccoma had previously planned an initial public offering for this December, but is delaying the process amid slumping tech valuations, according to people familiar with the matter. Piccoma was valued at about ¥847 billion ($6.2 billion) when it raised funds last year, and the company hopes to maintain that threshold when it goes public, one of the people said. Its IPO will likely take place during the first half, but plans remain flexible and hinge on market prices, the people said.
Piccoma joins a growing pipeline of companies waiting to go public after a global stock market rout hammered tech firms with lofty multiples. Valuations for e-commerce giant Coupang — sometimes called the Amazon of South Korea — briefly soared to more than $86 billion last year following a $4.6 billion New York listing, only to plunge more than 60% from that peak. That’s become a cautionary tale for firms ranging from SoftBank Group’s chip architect Arm to Kakao Entertainment, which are both considering New York listings but have yet to decide on a timeline.