Social network Path sold to Korea's Daum Kakao

Path, that social network with a focus on mobile sharing that not too many people use, has just announced that it has bought by Daum Kakao, a South Korean internet and mobile company. Dave Morin, Path's founder and CEO, revealed the news on the company's blog, adding that both Path Talk and the main Path app will continue to operate under Daum Kakao, as well as receive updates for the foreseeable future. The financial details of the deal were not revealed, however.

Morin said that it was time for Path to pursue its growth in Asia, and that Daum Kakao had the experience and knowledge of the market to make that happen. The Korean company isn't known in the US, but it was formed in a merger between the Daum internet portal and the mobile chat app Kakao Talk, which is said to be installed on 93% of smartphones in the country.

None of Path's employees will be transitioning to Daum Kakao, and the company says it will be keeping its recent release, Kong, a selfie/GIF sharing app. While the original Path app never found much success in the US, it claims 10 million active users per month and has been most popular in Indonesia of all places.

Path was founded in 2010, and only six months later received an offer from Google for $125 million. That passed on the deal, eventually raising $77 million from backers, but it's more than likely Daum Kakao's offer was nowhere near as good as Google's. It was rumored last fall that Apple was also in negotiations to buy Path, in part to get Morin's talent, as well as to integrate the social network into iOS in some way, but that deal never panned out.

SOURCE Path Blog