[Market Focus] Kakao Weakens on News of SK Telecom Selling Entire Stake

Kakao shares showed weakness in early trading. This is interpreted as being due to the burden on the stock price following SK Telecom's decision to sell its entire stake in Kakao.

As of 9:02 a.m. on April 25, Kakao was trading at 37,450 won, down 5.07% (2,000 won) from the previous day.

On this day, SK Telecom announced that it would sell its entire stake in Kakao, worth 413.3 billion won, through a block deal after market hours. The number of shares to be sold is 10,818,510. SK Telecom explained that the decision to sell was made in order to fully integrate SK Broadband as a subsidiary and to secure funds for future growth investments, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Previously, in November last year, SK Telecom signed a share purchase agreement to acquire the entire 24.8% stake in SK Broadband held by Taekwang Group and Mirae Asset Group. SK Telecom plans to purchase these shares by next month at 11,511 won per share, totaling 1.15 trillion won. Once the acquisition is complete, SK Broadband will effectively become a wholly owned subsidiary of SK Telecom.

In October 2019, SK Telecom exchanged shares worth 300 billion won with Kakao and entered into a strategic partnership. This was part of a strategy to strengthen global competitiveness and to lead the future information and communication technology (ICT) industry. It is reported that SK Telecom plans to continue cooperation between the two companies even after the sale of its Kakao stake.