Kakao Group Rises to Become One of Korea's Top 5 Conglomerates

Market Cap Increases by 60.7 Trillion KRW in One and a Half Years... Subsidiary IPOs Scheduled One After Another

Kim Beom-su, Chairman of the Kakao Board of Directors /

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Kakao has risen to become the 5th largest group in South Korea by market capitalization, even on a group basis.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 20th, the combined market capitalization of Kakao and its affiliates Kakao Games and Neptune was 73.9344 trillion KRW as of the 18th.

Accordingly, the Kakao Group ranked 5th in market capitalization, following Samsung Group (751.1009 trillion KRW), SK Group (200.9109 trillion KRW), LG Group (158.1144 trillion KRW), and Hyundai Motor Group (152.2861 trillion KRW).

At the end of 2019, the Kakao Group's market capitalization was 13.2388 trillion KRW, ranking 13th among groups. However, after the COVID-19 outbreak last year, it emerged as a core non-face-to-face sector, significantly increasing its market capitalization. From the end of 2019 to the present, the Kakao Group's market capitalization growth rate is approximately 459%, with an increase amounting to 60.7006 trillion KRW.

Industry experts interpret this as a result of expanding affiliates into various fields such as gaming, finance, content, and mobility, while also securing profitability. In particular, the Kakao Group has several large-scale initial public offerings of its subsidiaries lined up, so its share in the stock market is expected to grow further.

Meanwhile, according to data from the Fair Trade Commission's Corporate Group Portal, the number of companies affiliated with the Kakao Group increased by 73 over five years, from 45 at the end of 2015 to 118 at the end of last year. Compared to the four major groups?Samsung, SK, LG, and Hyundai Motor?whose affiliates increased by 67 from 263 to 330 during the same period, the number of Kakao Group affiliates increased more than the combined total of the four major groups. In contrast, the number of affiliates in Kakao's biggest competitor, Naver Group, remained unchanged at 45 at the end of last year, compared to 45 at the end of 2017, 42 at the end of 2018, and 43 at the end of 2019, making Kakao's growth even more remarkable.