Seismic news in the webtoon business today, with reports that Kakao Entertainment is shutting down Tapas, their North American entry into the vertical scrolling business.
According to content industry sources on the 22nd, Kakao Entertainment plans to send advance notices regarding the Tapas service termination to publishers and rights holders on the same day. The notice is expected to include the service shutdown timeline, plans for managing existing titles, settlement procedures, and other follow-up measures.
Kakao, one of Korea’s biggest media/entertainment companies, acquired Tapas in 2021 for about $800 million. At the time it was part of a “space race” between Kakao and Korean rival Naver/Webtoon to enter the North American market with the growing popularity of the mobile webcomic format – and possibly going public in the US, which Webtoon achieved in 2024. Kakao increased its investment by acquiring UGC prose platform Radish also in 2021, but shut that platform down last year.
Over the years Kakao invested heavily in various business mdoels for Tapas, as one point hiring an array of US editors including Jamie S. Rich, to create original content, but that initiative lasted less than a year.
While the webtoon format is popular, growth has stalled in the US due to a variety of factors, including repetitive contentm and rumors of Tapas shutting down had been circulating for a while.
Despite that, the news still comes a s a shock. Tapas itself has a long history predating the Kakao acquisition as a pioneer in the American webcomics business. It was launched in 2012 as Comic Panda by entrepreneurs Chang Kim and Young-Jun Jang before changing its name to Tapastic and later Tapas, and served as a home for thousands of webtoons over the years.
And it found a huge audience:
According to data released by Tapas Entertainment, the combined catalog of Tapas, Radish, and Wuxiaworld includes more than 115,000 titles, over 80,000 creators, and more than 19 million registered readers and downloads. Tapas alone, which launched in the United States in March 2012, has 75,000 creators, 100,000 titles, and 10 million cumulative registered users.
What will happen to those users and content is now a huge question: reportedly Kakao will fold Tapas into its Kakao Page operations, with official news going on on the 29th of September. Tapas also partnered with multiple US publishers, including InkLore/Random House (one of their lead titles, Daughter of a Thousand Faces) and Rocketship Entertainment. What will happen to those print programs is another question.
English language creators are currently reacting with shock and upset all over the internet. Webnovel author Sara Fox posted on LinkedIn, just as one example of the devastation this has wrought:
Hello, everyone.
I’m sitting here in total disbelief at the articles being released today about the Tapas shutdown. This is my home for my work. Where I started during COVID. Where I got my big break. Where staff worked hard endlessly to make these stories shine. It helps support my family, a new house being built right now, and my kids’ treatments.Season 2 + new cover for my K-pop novel is in the works. Still have a few seasons left of my vampire book. We are halfway done with the slice-of-life omegaverse story. Not even near the ending for the Snow White BL… I also have new pitches I want to do. I work hard every. single. day. making these deadlines and providing for my audience. I’ve aged, wrinkled, sleep-deprived, and got some new gray hairs from this job.
Now, everything I’ve worked for is being stripped away from me sometime later this year (assuming). Tapas hasn’t released official info, but this being spread all over Korean news outlets is pretty legit. I’m saving my files with a heavy heart right now. I don’t know what to do or who can help me continue these novels as monetized. My dream is to get these on store shelves…
I’m still waiting to see what happens to my contracts, or whether Kakao has a plan for its current creators. If my exclusive contracts are voided and no new platform is planned… Please let me know where I can go and thrive.
Currently serializing:
“The Vampire’s Last Omega” – BL, omegaverse, vampire, mature
“A Scent Not Mine” – BL, omegaverse, slice of life
“Mirror, Mirror on the Wall” – BL, dark fantasy, Grimm
“Bondage” – BL, K-pop, drama
The shutdown is big news in Korea, with this infographic summing up the situation.
All the way back in 2024, The Beat partnered with Kakao Entertainment to launch our sister site, KComicsBeat, as part of their push into the American market. That partnership lasted less than a year (although KCB is still around,) as Kakao itself was rocked by internal reorganization and a swift retreat from that particular marketing outreach. This latest news sees them abandoning their push into North America entirely, and taking a write down on an $800 million investment, as they concentrate on Korean businesses and Piccoma, a successful Japanese webtoon platform.
We’ll have much more on this story here and at KComicsBeat
