Wuxiaworld Founder Buys Back Web Fiction Platform From Tapas
WuxiaWorld founder and original owner Ren (RWX) announced he has bought back the English-language web fiction platform from Tapas Entertainment, returning the company to independent ownership nearly five years after Kakao Entertainment acquired it.
Ren announced the buyback on September 20, saying he had completed the purchase from Tapas and was once again the 100% owner and operator of WuxiaWorld. Ren's announcement came shortly before Kakao Entertainment announced that Tapas will shut down its North American service on March 31, 2027.
Ren said the impending Tapas shutdown was the "primary impetus" for his return, adding that WuxiaWorld itself would otherwise have been shut down as well. Ren also thanked Kakao Entertainment and Tapas for helping complete the buyback in less than a month.
WuxiaWorld was founded in 2014 by Ren, a fan of Chinese martial arts fiction, and grew into a major English-language platform for translated Chinese web novels. The site later expanded into Korean web novels and currently distributes titles including Overgeared and SSS-Class Revival Hunter in English.
Kakao Entertainment acquired WuxiaWorld in 2021 through its subsidiary Radish Media. At the time, Kakao described WuxiaWorld as a complementary platform to its other North American story businesses, with millions of daily page views and users in more than 100 countries. Korean titles accounted for only around 5% of WuxiaWorld's library at the time but generated nearly a quarter of its revenue, according to Kakao.
WuxiaWorld subsequently operated under Tapas Entertainment, which became the parent company of Kakao's North American story platforms following the merger of Tapas and Radish in 2022. Kakao shut down Radish in 2025, saying it would focus its North American story business on Tapas.
With Tapas now preparing to close, Ren said he decided to take WuxiaWorld back and attempt to rebuild the company as an independent business.
However, Ren acknowledged that the platform is in significantly weaker financial condition than when he sold it to Kakao. According to Ren, WuxiaWorld generated more than US$300,000 in monthly gross profit when he transferred the company to Tapas. By July 2026, its latest finalized monthly figures, the company was instead recording a gross loss of approximately US$30,000.
Ren said his immediate priorities include cutting costs, streamlining internal processes, and returning WuxiaWorld to a more agile "startup mode." Ren also plans to pause several unprofitable novels and revamp the platform's content pipeline.
The company plans to seek new Korean web novel licenses, which Ren said had not been added to WuxiaWorld for some time. Ren also plans to reconsider the platform's approach to Chinese novels and explore opportunities in Japanese and isekai fiction.
Ren said WuxiaWorld will not adopt machine translation, despite the company's financial difficulties. Ren also plans to explore other potential sources of revenue and users, including multilingual support, original user-generated content, and video or animation content.
WuxiaWorld will continue operating as an independent company under Ren, who said his long-term goal remains the same as when he founded the site: providing translated novels with a "forever home" rather than allowing them to disappear.
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