KakaoTalk’s latest moves tuned toward finding its groove in the global markets may just turn out to be a wake-up call for rivals such as Line Corp.

On Monday, Korea’s top mobile messenger service said it is acquiring LOEN, the operator of popular music-streaming service MelOn. 

Kakao will buy a 76.4 percent stake worth 1.87 trillion won ($1.55 billion) in the firm, with the transaction scheduled to be completed later this month.

Explaining Kakao’s rationale behind the decision, company CEO Jimmy Rim said music is indisputably one of the most popular content genres in the mobile age.

“One song can set trends for an entire generation and significantly influence the global pop culture,” Rim said. These songs include Korean pop music that has gained a wide global audience.

The top executive added that he expects the partnership with MelOn to contribute to providing momentum for Kakao’s global debut. The company has yet to state a date or release specific information about the official launch of its worldwide services.

LOEN’s chief executive Shin Won-soo said KakaoTalk has secured a platform for becoming one of Korea’s top content providers.

Kakao’s acquisition announcement comes in the wake of similar moves by its competitors such as Line ― a mobile messenger service launched by South Korea’s Naver that is more popular in overseas markets such as Japan than in Korea.

Industry watchers note that messenger services have been under pressure to diversify their revenue streams for some time now in the face of dwindling advertisement resources.

Service providers continue to see an increase in subscribers ― about two-thirds of Koreans subscribe to KakaoTalk ― but revenue is not growing accordingly.

In Kakao’s case, only a sliver of its content business, such as its mobile content market KakaoPage, are paid services.

Line Music, an affiliate of Line Corp., for instance, has a tie-up with Omnifone, a United Kingdom-based cloud music platform provider. Under the partnership, Line said it is able to offer a wider choice of music to its customers.

Line Music is a popular membership-based music streaming service similar to MelOn. In Japan, it boasts monthly downloads of up to 8.6 million, with monthly active users of around 4 million.

Officials of Line Corp. were unavailable for comment as Monday is a national holiday in Japan.

Some pundits were skeptical about the acquisition providing a lot of momentum for KakaoTalk to go global.

“Kakao has yet to prove that it has what it needs to become a global firm such as Line,” said one analyst, declining to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the issue. “It may take more than teaming up with yet another domestic firm, no matter how influential it is, to really take the global market by the reins.”

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)