Kakao Entertainment will merge Samyang C&C, Intime and Feelyeon Management this year, combining three wholly owned webtoon and web novel subsidiaries under the Samyang C&C name to sharpen its story IP business and improve efficiency. Samyang C&C CEO Cha Sung-taek will lead the merged company after the boards of the three units approved the deal on the 12th. Kakao Entertainment said the merger will pool the companies' planning and production strengths across genres such as romance, fantasy and martial-arts fiction and deepen its novel comics business, which adapts web novels into webtoons. The subsidiaries also cover the wider IP chain from discovering writers to publishing, merchandise and secondary adaptations including dramas and animation. Samyang C&C's "Elqueeness, the Spirit King" was cited as a model case, drawing 340 million cumulative views across webtoon and web novel formats on KakaoPage and Kakao Webtoon and gaining traction on Japan's Piccoma through Kakao Piccoma.