South Korea prosecutors indict Kakao group founder on stock manipulation charges, Yonhap reports

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors indicted on Thursday Kim Beom-su, the billionaire founder of tech giant Kakao Corp, on charges of stock market manipulation, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The Kakao founder, who is also known as Brian Kim, was arrested last month and has been detained since.

He is seen as a visionary in South Korea's digital industry for building Kakao's group of affiliates - worth 86 trillion won ($62 billion) by assets - from the ground up since launching the popular messaging app KakaoTalk.chat in 2010.

Prosecutors say he was involved in manipulating the stock price of SM Entertainment in February last year to hinder a competitor, Hybe, from acquiring it.

By Reuters.

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