“To excel in the artificial intelligence (AI) business, one must also excel in communication, right? However, I hear that due to the restructuring, the number of facility staff has decreased, leading to frequent malfunctions in communication equipment.”
“I heard that they are selling a profitable hotel due to AI investments. It plays the role of a golden goose within the corporations, and I’m concerned about selling such assets. Ultimately, isn’t management only interested in the extension of CEO Kim Young-seop’s term through stock price support?”
During the regular shareholders' meeting for KT in 2025 held on the 31st at the KT Research and Development Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, there were intense protests from shareholders against the management. Opposing opinions regarding KT's recent large-scale restructuring erupted during the meeting. Due to the continuous protests from shareholders, the meeting lasted for two hours. KT has reduced its workforce by a total of 4,400, including more than 2,800 who applied for special voluntary retirement, after moving some of its headquarters staff following the establishment of subsidiaries 'KT Netcore' and 'KT P&M' last year. The number of employees decreased from the 19,000s to the 14,000s.
One shareholder pointed out, “To perform well in KT's core communication business, the network must be advanced, but there are not enough employees to take on the work,” adding, “I question whether we can stably operate related businesses in this situation.” In response, CEO Kim Young-seop noted, “Currently, there are 5,700 employees responsible for communication equipment-related tasks, and their average age is 55 years. Most of them are nearing retirement age,” and explained, “We are undergoing restructuring to diversify the employee age range through hiring new staff and to prevent work disruptions due to mass retirements.”
Voices against the sale of real estate assets have also emerged. KT is currently reviewing the sale of major hotels, including Sofitel Ambassador, Andaz Seoul Gangnam, and Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun, held by its real estate development subsidiary, KT Estate. In this regard, one shareholder stated, “I believe selling profitable hotel assets consistently generating revenue is unreasonable,” and pointed out, “Currently, they are consistently in the red in overseas businesses, and with AI's profitability still uncertain, isn't this a decision to cover losses?” CEO Kim responded, saying, “KT must focus on its core businesses of communication and AI,” and added, “We are promoting the sale to receive fair value and to invest in business development.”
There were also calls for a reconsideration of the scale of AI investment funds. One shareholder said, “China's DeepSeek amazed the world with high performance at a cost of around 8 billion won,” and questioned, “Recently, KT announced a plan to invest 2.4 trillion won in AI over five years, but shouldn’t we reconsider this to enhance AI performance while reducing expenses?”
In response, CEO Kim explained, “Currently, expenses are required because we need to implement essential infrastructure for AI, such as data centers,” and added, “If we generate revenue in the AI field in the future, we can invest in other areas as well.” He went on to state, “We aim to boost artificial intelligence transformation (AX) business revenue by 300% compared to last year by 2028.”
On this day, the agenda items presented at the shareholders' meeting, including the approval of the 43rd fiscal statement, the appointment of directors, the appointment of the audit committee members, and the approval of the board compensation limit, were all passed. The existing outside directors, including Kim Yong-heon from Dae-ryuk Law Firm, Kwak Woo-young, former head of Hyundai Motor's Vehicle IT Development Center, Kim Sung-cheol from Korea University's Department of Media, and Lee Seung-hoon, former head of KCGI's Global Division, were all reappointed. The board compensation limit is set at 5.8 billion won, the same as last year.
KT changed part of its articles of incorporation to allow the board to set the dividend amount and the dividend record date within 45 days from the end of each quarter. The dividend per share for the fourth quarter is confirmed at 500 won and is scheduled to be paid on the 16th of next month. After completing a 205.9 billion won stock buyback last year, KT plans to additionally purchase and cancel approximately 250 billion won worth of its own shares by August of this year.