South Korea's E-commerce Giant Coupang Acquires Hooq's Digital Asset

South Korea's e-commerce giant, Coupang Corp. is reportedly has acquired Hooq video streaming platform assets. This news was first released by Bloomberg, citing sources close to the agreement.

There is no further details were given regarding the acquisition value. What is clear, Hooq digital assets will be used as fuel Coupang in competing in the local OTT market. Previously, Netflix (the most popular) also had a streaming video service there.

In South Korea, Coupang is a key player in the e-commerce sector. The startup, which is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital, and some other investors has reached valuation of around US$ 9 billion. This year, the company founded by Bom Kim has entered its 10 years old.

In Southeast Asia, Hooq has shut down its service as of April 2020. Because of its major shareholders who filed for liquidation wanting to focus on the core business. They considered the video streaming business model to be insignificant in its results.

Hooq's coverage focuses on local film and television series content. Including to allow users streaming television shows through the application. An original content approach has also been attempted, but what the market power does not welcome.

Hooq also presents Hollywood and Asian films, this might also be one of the complementary assets that Coupang can use to start video streaming services, in addition to technology/software owned by Hooq itself.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian