Enswers Acquired by KT for $40m and more [Weekly Korean Startup News, ~6 Dec 2011]

This post is written by Hyunseok Choi, editor at Onsuccess.me, a Korean Tech Blog with insights into Korean startup ecosystem and tech space.

1. Enswers, a leading video searching tech company, announced that it was acquired by KT for 45 billion won ($40 mn). Enswers will operate as a subsidiary of KT, and Softbank Ventures Korea, the largest shareholder prior to the acquisition, haven’t sold its shares. It seems Softbank Ventures Korea is expecting the value of Enswers is higher than its amount of acquisition.

2. Samsung Electronics denied collecting its smartphone users’ personal data. According to a study jointly conducted by a local media, some built-in apps including the “mirror” app, data network setting and program monitoring apps on the Galaxy S, Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note were capable of collecting users’ private information. But Samsung Electronics said it didn’t gather its smartphone users’ personal data, and Korea Communications Commission is investigating this matter.

3. According to ’2011 Korean Internet Economy Benefit Analysis Study’ conducted byInternet Corporation Association and Sogang University  Market Economy Institute, the size of domestic internet economy in Korea amounts to 63 trillion won($55 billion) which accounts for 5.94% of GDP. This size is greater than that of motor industry(5.71%) or electric industry(4.23%). Internet economy is consisted of information retrieval, advertisement, e-commerce, game, etc.

(Original Post)