Namgung Hun Leaving Kakao, Company Cafe 'Golden Bell' Rings

Namgung Hun, Kakao CEO Before Retirement
Continues 'Communication King' Role Even When Leaving

Namgung Hoon, former CEO of Kakao, rang the so-called golden bell for employees before leaving Kakao.

On the 6th, former CEO Namgung provided free drinks and bakery items to employees at the Kakao office caf?, Pangyo Ajit, located in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. With his retirement from Kakao scheduled for the end of October, this was his farewell to the staff. Known as the "Communication King" even before becoming Kakao's CEO, former CEO Namgung treated the employees, and the office caf? was reportedly packed with people.

Former CEO Namgung is about to part ways with the Kakao community after 8 years. On the 4th, he posted on his Facebook, "After 8 years together with Kakao, I will say goodbye at the end of this month and start a new life."

Namgung joined the Kakao community in 2015 when the game company Engine was acquired by Kakao. He then served as co-CEO of Kakao Games and eventually became Kakao's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in March last year. However, he stepped down after 7 months, taking responsibility for service disruptions caused by a data center fire. Afterwards, he served as a full-time advisor at Kakao’s Future Initiative Center, which plans the company’s future strategies.

Namgung will start a new chapter as an invited professor at Sogang University. He said, "Starting this fall semester at Sogang University, I will teach a liberal arts course called 'Preparation for Working Adults' as an invited professor. I want to approach my dream of becoming a teacher by sharing the knowledge I gained through work with students, educating them on job-related concerns and the attitudes they should have as members of society."

He is also preparing to establish a scholarship foundation. Namgung promised, "To express my gratitude for the benefits I have received from society, I will establish a scholarship foundation (or donate to a scholarship fund) and continue social contribution activities."

He added that he has not given up on his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. He plans to focus on the entertainment content artificial intelligence (AI) sector and seek opportunities to enter the market. Namgung emphasized, "I believe South Korea has great competitiveness in the entertainment content AI sector. The competitiveness of the music, video, and game industries, which have grown individually so far, will greatly explode in this era when combined with AI."