Kakao's Namgung Hoon Picks 'Metaverse' as Future Growth Engine... "Will Open the Era of Metaphorming"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Namgung Hoon, the newly appointed CEO of Kakao, has identified the 'Metaverse (extended virtual world)' as Kakao's new growth engine.

On the 20th, Namgung stated on his Facebook, "We believe that we need to reorganize all business strategies from the perspective of pioneering new land again," adding, "In this context, the metaverse is the closest to social demands and the challenge Kakao can best undertake at present."

He diagnosed, "We have strongly built new virtual land based on acquaintances through KakaoTalk's text, but it is limited to Korea, which poses a limitation," and "This limitation carries an essential problem of not sufficiently meeting the greater social demands."

He continued, "While operating the Future Center, I realized that our Kakao community possesses all three stages of digital world morphemes," and "Based on this, we began contemplating the new composition of the metaverse world." The three stages of morphemes Namgung mentioned are the 1st stage text, 2nd stage sound and image, and 3rd stage multimedia. He equated each morpheme to KakaoTalk (text), Melon (sound), KakaoPage (image), and games (multimedia).

He said, "Our challenge to innovate traditional business areas digitally seems to be increasingly viewed and criticized by the public not as innovation but as someone invading another's land," and emphasized, "To solve the global challenges society demands, reorganizing the company around the metaverse and pioneering new land will be the way to uphold all of Kakao's founding spirit rather than focusing on technological innovation of the existing world."

Namgung stated, "We will open the era of 'Metaforming,' pioneering the infinite land of the metaverse," and added, "Though the responsibility is heavy, I will focus on discovering new land through the metaverse, expanding into the global market, and doing my best to make Kakao a company loved by the public and growing."

Meanwhile, Kakao announced that it held a nomination committee meeting on the same day and appointed Namgung, head of the Future Initiative Center, as the sole CEO candidate. Namgung will be officially appointed as CEO after the shareholders' meeting and board of directors in March. With the co-CEO Yeo Minsu expressing his intention to step down, Kakao will be led solely by Namgung going forward.

Namgung will bear the responsibility of resolving controversies surrounding Kakao and discovering new future growth engines. Kakao regards him as the optimal leader to realize future-oriented values at a time when it must contemplate the next stage vision beyond KakaoTalk.