Google Acquires Korean Blogging Software Company TNC
This story was written by David Kaplan.
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has bought Korea-based blogging software provider TNC, co-founder and co-CEO Chang Kim said in a blog post on Web20Asia.com (via Venturebeat). Terms weren't disclosed. The company's full name is Tatter and Company. Kim compares TNC to Matt Mullenweg's Automattic - "a company that develops a cool blogging platform" that's favored by "the nation's A-list bloggers and also works closely with the open source community."
She says Google views the acquisition as a way to build up its market share in Asia and Korea, where its presence is not dominant as it is in the west. Kim claims that TNC supplies blogging software and services to more than 400,000 users, including 65 of Korea's top 100 bloggers, as of the first half of 2007. It has received an unspecified amount of funding from Softbank Ventures' Ranger Fund. Chang, and her TNC co-founder/CEO Chester Roh, sold their previous blog service, Tistory, to Korean portal Daum. The company's newest blog tool is called Textcube.
By David Kaplan