[CEO Rivals] ‘MZ Leader’ Naver Choi Soo-yeon VS ‘Crew Eldest’ Kakao Hong Eun-taek

'Communication Leadership' Choi Su-yeon, Mission to Revitalize Organizational Culture
'Managerial CEO' Hong Eun-taek, Internal Stabilization and New Business Challenges

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] In February 2009, Sooyeon Choi, then a 27-year-old employee at NHN's PR office, the predecessor of Naver, visited Euntaek Hong, then 45 and head of NHN's Media & Editorial Group. Choi said, "I thought it was polite to say a final goodbye to a company elder," and announced her decision to resign. The two, once a regular employee and a group leader, met again 13 years later as CEOs of competing companies. The two leaders of Naver and Kakao are as different as their companies. While CEO Choi needs to inject dynamism into a rigid organization, CEO Hong's priority is to stabilize a volatile organization. We examined their similarities and differences as much as their generational gap.

'Leadership Generation Change' Sooyeon Choi... Reviving Venture DNA

CEO Choi traversed both science and humanities. She double-majored in Earth Environmental Systems Engineering and Media & Communication at Seoul National University. After graduation, she worked at NHN but resigned after four years to become a lawyer. She attended Yonsei University Law School and Harvard Law School.

Her career is split evenly between Naver and the law firm Yulchon. Although the first CEO from the company's public recruitment, she is effectively a half-outsider who has moved in and out of the organization. At Yulchon, she specialized in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate law. Then, she suddenly left the large law firm and returned to her former company. At an internal meeting, CEO Choi explained, "I was surprised to see a venture company that used to provide search services transform into a tech company equipped with new businesses and expanding overseas after more than ten years," adding, "I wanted to bet my life on a company with tremendous potential." At Naver, she served as the head of the Global Business Support Department. During this time, she proved her overseas investment capabilities alongside Lee Hae-jin, Naver's Global Investment Officer (GIO).

Four years after rejoining, CEO Choi was appointed last year at age 41, becoming the youngest female leader among 119 executives. Although her appointment caused a stir in the industry, it was not a surprise. When Naver celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019 and considered its next leadership, CEO Choi was identified as a strong candidate. Cha Seon-joo, Naver's Head of External and ESG Policy, had noticed her since they worked together as regular employees in the PR office and recruited her.

Naver needed a captain with multiple qualities to solve its immediate challenges. The leader had to inject dynamism into a rapidly growing company while strengthening cohesion. GIO Lee required a balanced sense of boldly pioneering new overseas markets while fulfilling social responsibilities. CEO Choi was evaluated as the right person for these conditions, possessing a broad spectrum of experience inside and outside the company, global sensibility, and M&A experience. Above all, she enabled generational change as a young leader.

For her first M&A after taking office, CEO Choi chose Poshmark, the number one secondhand trading platform in North America. The acquisition price reached 1.6 trillion won, making it the largest deal in the domestic IT industry, including Naver. Despite growing global uncertainties, she pushed forward boldly. Although GIO Lee provided unseen support, the final decision was hers. CEO Choi judged that the global consumer-to-consumer (C2C) market would become a new growth engine.

CEO Choi is known as a communicative CEO. After her appointment, the first thing she did was meet with about 400 employees over 100 days to listen to them. After taking office, she approached employees first, asking them to call her "Sooyeon" instead of "CEO." She even appeared unexpectedly at new employee orientation (OT), saying, "I am a peer with you as we take our first steps." She promised to communicate frequently enough to be considered bothersome. She starts with communication even when changing organizations or systems. The introduction of 'Connected Work,' allowing employees to choose between working from home or the office, was one such example.

The immediate challenge is restoring corporate value. Naver's stock price has dropped 40% since her appointment. The economic downturn and criticism that Poshmark was purchased at too high a price dragged down the stock price. Since Poshmark is currently operating at a loss, it inevitably affects Naver's profitability. The existing cash cow, the advertising business, is also sluggish. To dispel market anxiety, she must demonstrate management capability through performance.

CEO Choi's vision is 'Global 3.0.' She aims not only to succeed with individual services overseas but also to create a new industrial ecosystem. She set concrete goals to surpass 1 billion global users and 15 trillion won in annual sales within five years. Currently, Naver's total monthly active users (MAU) across all services are 700 million, with estimated annual sales of 8 trillion won.

'Managerial CEO' Euntaek Hong... Task of Organizational Stabilization

Kakao CEO Euntaek Hong graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Oriental History and earned a master's degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri. After graduating, he worked as a journalist for 16 years at major newspapers. He was known in the industry as a skilled reporter.

In his mid-40s, he entered the IT industry. After repeated persuasion by former NHN CEO Hwi-young Choi, also a former journalist, he moved to NHN Naver as the Architecture Officer (NAO). He was responsible for portal news restructuring and media/community service strategies such as blogs and cafes, aiming to contribute to the coexistence of media and portals. His experience in content services continued at Kakao. He was recruited as Vice President of Kakao's content services and joined the new company. Later, he led KakaoPage, Kakao Makers, and Kakao Commerce.

He also played a senior role in the Kakao community. Among key executives, he is the second oldest after Kim Sung-soo, Chairman of Kakao's Board and CEO of Kakao Entertainment. CEO Hong oversaw management support and social contribution, serving as co-head of the Community Alignment Center (CAC), acting as a control tower. This was because the previous leadership model, which left subsidiaries to independent management without a central point, showed its limitations.

Within Kakao, someone was needed to maintain balance. Former CEO Namgoong Hoon struggled to manage the crisis alone. His role had been skewed toward services and business, and he had health issues. Consequently, Kakao shifted to a co-CEO system. CEO Hong took charge of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management and risk management. Shortly after taking office, he posted on social media, "As a veteran in the industry, I have quietly supported young talents to thrive," adding, "I will help the creative and flexible CEO Namgoong Hoon to fully demonstrate his strengths." However, after the Kakao outage incident in October last year, former CEO Namgoong resigned, and CEO Hong became the sole leader.

CEO Hong is known as a studious CEO. His nickname is 'Bookstore' due to his avid reading. He meticulously reviews various documents and articles, regardless of the field. While leading Kakao Commerce, he held 'Brown Bag Meetings' every two weeks, inviting startup CEOs for lectures. These are informal discussion sessions accompanied by simple lunches, typically sandwiches in brown paper bags, hence the name. Privately, he attends discussion groups where various industry insiders share insights. These meetings start at 8 a.m. on Saturdays, and consistent participation is required to remain a member.

CEO Hong managed the Kakao outage crisis with meticulous managerial leadership. The day after the data center fire, he transitioned to an 'Emergency Response Committee' system and chaired it. Four days later, he held a press conference to explain the cause of the incident personally. He acknowledged, "Kakao received much criticism because we failed to meet expectations and interest," and bowed, saying, "We will ensure no negligence in our responsibilities going forward." The compensation plan was finalized within 40 days. Compared to the 2018 KT Ahyeon station fire, which took over a year to conclude compensation, this was a swift decision. Thus, the emergency committee system ended in 79 days, and management normalized.

However, many challenges remain. First, he must lead new businesses that were heavily dependent on former CEO Namgoong. Although there is a vision, much remains to be done. The metaverse business starting point, 'OpenLink,' has yet to launch a service. Since leadership restructuring discussions continue after former CEO Namgoong's resignation, CEO Hong needs to assert his presence in business as well. To this end, he has been reviewing each service carefully since the beginning of the year. Although he enjoys activities like cycling, basketball, and yoga, he reportedly started mobile gaming as his workload increased, replacing previous hobbies.

Managing a turbulent organization is also a task. Frequent leadership changes and organizational shifts have caused internal fatigue. Communication gaps have led to significant dissatisfaction. Recently, tensions erupted after the announcement to end remote work. The Kakao labor union demands dialogue with Kim Beom-su, head of Kakao Future Initiative Center, and a reestablishment of leadership.