Kakao Chief Executive Officer Chung Shina said on the 26th, “We are not considering a sale at this point in time” regarding the portal Daum.
After the 30th regular shareholders' meeting held at Kakao’s headquarters, Jeju Space Dot One, Chung noted to reporters regarding the separation of Daum, “The priority now is to create a good company.” Since it was revealed that Kakao is pushing for the separation of Daum, the Kakao labor union has been concerned that this may lead to equity sales.
Chung explained the background of pushing for the separation of Daum, saying, “I believe that for corporations to grow, both people and structure need to be in place, and I determined that Daum has a structurally challenging environment to grow within Kakao for now.” She added, “I think we should create an independent management structure that allows for autonomous experimentation to foster service growth.”
She stated, “The separation of Daum is different from previous separations,” and added, “There were separations driven by existing new businesses and those highly dependent on Kakao Talk for business growth.” Regarding employment stability issues arising from the separation, she said, “We will ensure that the currently connected companies remain in business cooperation to enable them to become sustainable companies,” and noted, “People working for Daum in subsidiaries such as K&Works will continue to work as before.”
Chung said, “I don’t think it will be a problem more than what we are considering regarding employment,” adding, “At least it is not an action for restructuring.”
During the shareholders' meeting that day, Chung introduced the strategy for the popularization of AI. She stated, “We will create B2C services that change daily life across all areas, including conversation, gifting, mobility, and finance,” and emphasized, “The personalized AI that Kakao envisions will enable users, regardless of their understanding of technology, to easily engage with AI, achieving ‘AI popularization.’”
She referred to the Management Innovation Committee, which recently concluded its activities, saying, “We plan to continuously pursue management innovation through the Strategy Committee, Responsible Management Committee, ESG Committee, and Brand Com Committee, which include CEOs of major affiliates.”
Chung announced that Kakao will conduct a non-public beta test for the AI service ‘Kanana’ in the first half of the year, stating, “This doesn’t end with Kanana; there are still no services targeting user needs in the B2C institutional sector. We will create a personalized AI agent platform by the end of this year.”
At the Kakao regular shareholders' meeting that day, all items, including the approval of financial statements, the appointment of directors, and the approval of remuneration limits, passed. Shin Jong-hwan, Kakao’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), was newly appointed as an inside director. Kim Seon-wook, a representative lawyer from law firm Sesung, was appointed as an outside director in charge of the audit committee.
The agenda to expand the location of Kakao’s shareholders' meeting beyond its headquarters in Jeju to Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and surrounding areas was also passed. At the Kakao Games shareholders' meeting, held at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, all agendas were passed, including the appointment of No Jung-yeon, former chief prosecutor of the Daegu High Prosecutors' Office, as an outside director.