Kakao Posts Record Results with 8 Trillion Won in Revenue and 700 Billion Won in Operating Profit Last Year

Revenue 8.0991 Trillion Won, Operating Profit 732.0 Billion Won... Up 3% and 48% Year-on-Year, Respectively
"Focusing on AI and KakaoTalk Growth... Prioritizing Advancement of Language Models"

Kakao set new records for both annual revenue and operating profit last year. As the company pushed ahead with restructuring its business portfolio, including streamlining non-core affiliates, profitability improved, while the Talk Biz segment, including the advertising business, drove earnings growth.

On February 12, Kakao announced in a regulatory filing that its consolidated operating profit for last year was provisionally tallied at 732.0 billion won, up 48% from a year earlier. During the same period, revenue came in at 8.0991 trillion won, an increase of 3%. Both revenue and operating profit were the highest since the company was founded.

Kakao Pangyo Agit, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

Last year, Kakao sold its healthcare business units, including Kakao Healthcare, to the Cha Bio Group. Accordingly, operating results generated by the healthcare business units up to the loss of control were classified as discontinued operations. On a comparable basis, assuming the healthcare business units had not been classified as discontinued operations, revenue and operating profit would have increased by 2.9% and 59.1%, respectively, compared with a year earlier.

Looking at the results by quarter, consolidated operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year was 203.4 billion won, up 136% from the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the same period was 2.1332 trillion won, an increase of 9%. Fourth-quarter revenue was the highest ever on a quarterly basis, and operating profit remained in the 200 billion won range for the second consecutive quarter.

By business area, revenue from the platform segment in the fourth quarter was 1.2226 trillion won, up 17% year-on-year. Within this, Talk Biz revenue came in at 627.1 billion won, a 13% increase from a year earlier. Talk Biz advertising revenue grew 16% year-on-year to 373.4 billion won. Business message revenue also continued its growth trend, rising 19% compared with a year earlier. Display advertising achieved an 18% year-on-year increase in revenue.

Fourth-quarter revenue from Talk Biz commerce, including Gift and Talk Deal, was 253.4 billion won, up 8% from a year earlier. The fourth-quarter gross merchandise value (GMV) of commerce reached 3 trillion won for the first time on a quarterly basis, marking 12% year-on-year growth. In particular, GMV for Gift grew 14% year-on-year, as the peak-season effect was maximized by the Chuseok holiday and expanded year-end promotions. Annual commerce GMV was 10.6 trillion won, up 6% from a year earlier.

Other platform revenue, including Mobility and Pay, was 523.9 billion won, a 30% increase from the same period a year earlier. Mobility posted double-digit revenue growth year-on-year, as the stable taxi business was complemented by top-line expansion in parking and quick delivery services. Pay saw balanced growth across all business areas, including payment, financial, and platform services.

Fourth-quarter revenue from the content segment was 910.6 billion won, remaining at a similar level to the same period last year. Music and media revenue rose 12% and 30% year-on-year, respectively, to 525.1 billion won and 95.8 billion won. Story revenue was 191.8 billion won, down 5% from a year earlier.

Kakao April 2025. Provided by Kakao

Operating expenses in the fourth quarter of last year were 1.9298 trillion won, up 3% from the same period a year earlier. Operating profit increased 136% year-on-year to 203.4 billion won, and the operating margin was 10%.

This year, Kakao will focus on growing its core businesses: artificial intelligence (AI) and KakaoTalk. In the first quarter of this year, the company plans to officially launch its on-device AI service, "Kakana in KakaoTalk," on both Android and iOS, while continuing to independently develop and advance the language models that are essential for delivering the service.

Kakao CEO Jeong Shinah said, "The results of our structural improvements, which have focused the group's capabilities on the core, are now clearly reflected in our financial metrics," adding, "We will both prove our performance through improved results and turn expectations for Kakao's mid- to long-term growth into tangible outcomes."