South Korea’s biggest messaging app is preparing for an IPO

Facebook’s announcement it is paying $19 billion in cash and stock to acquire WhatsApp is a milestone in the short history of mobile messaging apps. Hundreds of millions of people have downloaded such apps to their smartphones and tablets to chat and share photos and videos for free, making them potent rivals to Facebook. WhatsApp alone has 450 million active monthly users.

Kakao Corp., developer of Korea’s favorite messaging service and social platform, Kakao Talk, will be listing its stock publicly in May. This follows the recent news that SundayToz also successfully listed its stock in August, 2013, and demonstrates further growth in the Korean tech industry, which has been attracting much attention in the international press recently. What’s more interesting, though, is the potential opportunity that Facebook has presented following news that the social giant will be forking out an enormous $19 billion for WhatsApp.