Revenue Surges 9% Year-on-Year to 2 Trillion Won, Operating Margin Reaches 10%
CEO Chung Shinah: "From Next Year, AI Will Evolve as a New Revenue Source"
Kakao achieved its highest-ever quarterly results in the third quarter of this year. On November 7, Kakao announced that its revenue for the third quarter of 2025 reached 2.0866 trillion won, a 9% increase compared to the same period last year, while operating profit surged 59% to 208 billion won. For the first time, quarterly operating profit exceeded 200 billion won, and the operating margin reached 10% for the first time in four years.
By business segment, platform revenue totaled 1.0598 trillion won, up 12% year-on-year. Notably, revenue from Talk Biz increased by 7% to 534.4 billion won, with advertising revenue rising 11% to 325.4 billion won. Business message revenue grew by 22%, setting a new record high. Commerce revenue, including Gift and Talk Deal, was 208.7 billion won, maintaining the same level as the previous year, while the transaction volume for Gift grew by 1%. Self-purchase transaction volume rose by 40%, and total commerce transaction volume increased by 4% to 2.5 trillion won.
Other platform revenue, including mobility and Pay, climbed 24% year-on-year to 452.7 billion won. The growth in revenue from Kakao Pay and financial subsidiaries, along with the strong performance of data-driven platform services, led to a record-high quarterly operating profit for this segment as well.
Content revenue reached 1.0267 trillion won, a 5% increase compared to the same period last year. Music and media revenue rose by 20% and 75%, respectively, to 565.2 billion won and 95.8 billion won. This was driven by the performance of major artists, the recognition of deferred sales from previous works, and higher production progress rates.
Kakao is also accelerating the creation of new revenue streams through artificial intelligence (AI). The company launched "Kanana in KakaoTalk," which understands user intent within conversation context, and "ChatGPT for Kakao," which applies the AI agent "Kakao Tools." Kakao plans to expand integration with key services such as finance and mobility in the future. Kakao CEO Chung Shinah stated, "Starting next year, we will demonstrate how AI evolves into the most important new revenue source that ensures sustainable growth."
However, despite Kakao's strong third-quarter performance, the market has raised concerns that controversy over the messenger's redesign could become a variable affecting future results. The overhaul of KakaoTalk's "Friends Tab" led to unexpected user backlash. When the simple friend list structure was changed to a feed format, criticism spread among users that it was a "redesign focused on ad exposure," prompting Kakao to decide to restore the initial screen to its original structure within the fourth quarter. The market believes that changes to KakaoTalk's UI and UX could directly and indirectly impact key revenue structures, such as user engagement time, advertising efficiency, and commerce exposure strategies, making the messenger redesign a likely major variable for future performance.
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