Daum
Encyclopedia
Daum is a web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....

 in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, like Naver
Naver (web portal)
Naver is a popular search portal in South Korea, with a market share of over 70%, compared to 2% for Google. Naver was launched in June 1999 by ex-Samsung employees, and it debuted as the first Web portal in South Korea that used its own proprietary search engine...

 and Nate
Nate
Nate is a South Korean web portal, developed by SK Communications. In 2003, Nate acquired the online community service Cyworld, and in 2004, it achieved first place in local page views with a total of 3.8 million, surpassing rival Daum for the first time....

. Daum offers many Internet services to web users, including a popular free web-based e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

, messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

 service, forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

s, shopping and news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...

. The word "daum" means "next" in Korean.

The popularity of Daum is a reflection of the high level of internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 use in South Korea. The country has the highest level of broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...

 users, and one of the most widespread levels of computer and Internet access.

The popularity of Daum stems from the range of services it offers, but also from the fact that it was the first Korean web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....

 of significant size. Its popularity started when it merged with the then most popular e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

 service, daum.net or hanmail.net. After the merging, Daum started the forum service Daum Cafe which brought its firm status in the market. The term cafe and even internet cafe (Different from what is supposed to refer to in Western usage) is now used as the synonym for "Internet forum" in Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

.

From 2003, Daum started on-line direct automobile insurance
Vehicle insurance
Vehicle insurance is insurance purchased for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise therefrom...

 by launching the subsidiary 'Daum Direct Auto Insurance' and from 2008, it became a partnership company with ERGO Insurance Group
ERGO Insurance Group
ERGO is one of the major insurance groups in Europe. Worldwide, ERGO is represented in more than 30 countries and concentrates on Europe and Asia. In Europe, ERGO claims to be no. 1 in the health and legal expenses insurance segments, and in its home market of Germany it is among the market leaders...

.

On August 2, 2004 Daum announced the purchase of Lycos
Lycos
Lycos, Inc. is a search engine and web portal established in 1994. Lycos also encompasses a network of email, webhosting, social networking, and entertainment websites.-Corporate history:...

 for $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

95.4 million, and closed the transaction on October 6. As part of a corporate restructuring to focus on mobile, social networks and location-based serves, Daum sold Lycos for $36 million in August 2010 to Ybrant Digital
Ybrant Digital Limited
Ybrant Digital is a digital marketing company founded in 2000 and headquartered in India with offices in US, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, Serbia, Israel, China, India, and Australia, and with representatives or partners in Poland and...

, an internet marketing company based in Hyderabad, India.

In 2006, they started a blogging service Tistory
Tistory
Tistory is a South Korean blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs.It was first started by 'Tatter and Company', a blogging platform developing company who developed the software 'Tattertools',...

with 'Tatter and Company', a blogging platform
Weblog software
Weblog software is software designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of weblogs...

developing company and in July 2007,
Daum took over all rights to manage the services.

Daum has about 874 employees as of Mar, 2009.

Services


Corporate

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