Kakao Holds Regular Shareholders' Meeting
On Employment Stability After Spin-Off:
"We Will Ensure It Through Business Cooperation With Linked Companies"
"Kanana Private Beta Test to Be Conducted in the First Half of the Year"
Jeong Sin-ah, CEO of Kakao, stated that there are no plans to sell the portal site 'Daum,' which is scheduled to be spun off. He also expressed his ambition to popularize artificial intelligence (AI) services.
After the 30th regular shareholders' meeting held on the morning of the 26th at the Jeju headquarters Space Dot One, CEO Jeong told reporters, "Daum has sufficient potential as an independent business in the portal sector," adding, "At this point, we are not considering the sale of Daum."
Jung Sin-ah, CEO of Kakao, is attending and presenting at the 'Kakao Media Day' held on the 4th at Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung
Following news that Kakao is pushing for the spin-off of Daum, the Kakao labor union opposed the move, expressing concerns that it could lead to the sale of shares.
Regarding the background of the Daum spin-off, CEO Jeong explained, "I believe that for a company to grow, both people and structure must be in place. We judged that Daum currently faces structural difficulties growing within Kakao," adding, "We thought it necessary to create an independent management structure and a system that allows autonomous experimentation so the service can grow well."
He said, "The Daum spin-off is different from previous spin-offs," explaining, "Previous spin-offs were either due to new businesses or had high dependency on KakaoTalk but were spun off to drive business growth." On employment stability related to the spin-off, he stated, "We will establish business cooperation with all currently linked companies to ensure sustainability."
At the shareholders' meeting, CEO Jeong also expressed his intention to lead the popularization of AI services. He said, "Over the next 15 years, we aim to secure future growth engines and seize opportunities to change daily life through the popularization of AI-based services," adding, "Kakao's personalized AI, which understands the user's context, will be the driving force behind making AI easily accessible to users and achieving AI popularization."
Regarding Kakao's personalized AI service 'Kanana,' he said, "We plan to conduct a private beta test of Kanana in the first half of the year," adding, "Kanana is not the end; there is currently no service targeting user needs in the B2C (business-to-consumer) sector. We will build a personalized AI agent platform by the end of this year."
At the shareholders' meeting, all major agenda items, including the appointment of inside directors, were approved. At the meeting, Shin Jong-hwan, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), was newly appointed as an inside director. Kim Seon-wook, representative lawyer of the law firm Sesung, joined as an outside director, while Choi Se-jung, professor of media studies at Korea University, and Park Sae-rom, professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), were reappointed as outside directors for one year.
Ham Chun-seung, president of PH&Company, was appointed as the chairman of the board. With this, Kakao's board consists of eight members: inside directors Jeong Sin-ah, Shin Jong-hwan, and Jo Seok-young, and outside directors Ham Chun-seung, Cha Kyung-jin, Choi Se-jung, Park Sae-rom, and Kim Seon-wook (three inside directors and five outside directors).
In addition, the audit report, business report, internal accounting management system operation report, approval of the 30th consolidated and separate financial statements, partial amendments to the articles of incorporation, approval of director remuneration limits, and cancellation of treasury stock were all approved as originally proposed.
A Kakao representative stated, "We will continue to strengthen communication with shareholders and stakeholders and review various measures to enhance shareholder value."
Meanwhile, on the same day, Kakao's labor union 'Crew Union' held picket protests in front of Jeju Space Dot One and the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, opposing the Daum spin-off and the sale of Kakao VX. The Kakao union declared a complete breakdown of collective bargaining after receiving no response from management despite demanding countermeasures by 3 p.m. the previous day.
Accordingly, the union plans to apply for mediation with the local labor relations commission and conduct a strike vote next month. If the Kakao union proceeds with a strike, it will be the first strike since the establishment of the Crew Union in 2018.
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