The Rise and Fall of Daum: How Korea's First Portal Lost Everything — And What Comes Next
Korea Tech History April 13, 2026 From dominating Korea's early internet to falling behind even Microsoft Bing — the complete story of Daum's rise, blunders, and uncertain future under AI startup Upstage. 📋 Table of Contents What Was Daum? Korea's First Superstar Portal How Daum Lost Its Crown to Naver Daum's Fatal Blunders: Email Fees & the Lycos Disaster Why Naver Won: Jisik-in and More The Agora Controversy: Was Daum Really Left-Leaning? The Kakao Merger: A Rescue That Became a Cage Market Share Collapse: The Numbers Tell the Story Can Daum Come Back? The Upstage Gamble 1. What Was Daum? Korea's First Superstar Portal To understand just how dramatic Daum's downfall has been, you first need to appreciate how dominant it once was. Daum Communications was founded in 1994 by Park Geon-hee and Lee Jae-woong, and launched its web portal in May ...