Kakao recorded its highest quarterly performance ever in the second quarter of this year.
Kakao announced on the 7th that its consolidated operating profit for the second quarter of this year was 185.9 billion won, up 39% from the same period last year. Revenue rose 1% year-on-year to 2.0283 trillion won. The operating profit margin is 9.16%. Operating expenses during this period were 1.8424 trillion won, down 2% from the same period last year.
Kakao achieved its highest revenue and operating profit ever for the second quarter this year. Solid performance was recorded as all business segments, except for the content sector, grew evenly. Kakao plans to continue its performance growth by gradually launching new artificial intelligence (AI) services.
Kakao operates its business mainly in the platform and content sectors. In the second quarter of this year, revenue in the platform sector was estimated at 1.0552 trillion won, a 10% increase from the same period last year. Revenue from the content sector was 97.31 billion won, a 7% decrease compared to the previous year.
Despite a decline in game sales within the content sector, music and story revenues increased by 1% year-on-year to 51.75 billion won and 21.87 billion won, respectively. Media revenue stood at 9.42 billion won, a 5% increase compared to the previous year.
In the platform sector, TalkBiz revenue was 54.21 billion won, up 7% from the same period last year. Of this, TalkBiz advertising revenue for the second quarter was 32.10 billion won, a 4% increase year-on-year. The company noted, "Revenue from business messaging increased by 16%," adding that "expanding the types and ranges of messages advertisers can send through various message templates is expected to create significant long-term revenue growth potential."
Sales from TalkBiz commerce, including gift-giving and Talk Deal, reached 22.12 billion won, a 10% increase from the same period last year. The consolidated transaction value for commerce in the second quarter of this year was recorded at 25 trillion won, up 6% from the previous year. It is analyzed that the performance of the commerce sector has grown as the proportion of purchases made through the 'gift-giving' feature in KakaoTalk has increased.
Sales from other platform sectors, including mobility and pay, totaled 43.48 billion won, up 21% from the same period last year. The expansion of parking and quick service businesses had a positive impact on overall revenue growth.
Pay recorded a double-digit revenue growth rate compared to the previous year. Revenue from portal business in the second quarter amounted to 7.83 billion won, a 11% decrease.
Kakao is preparing for a major overhaul of the KakaoTalk service. There are also plans to expand the AI ecosystem based on infrastructure and language models. In the second half of this year, various AI services are being prepared with the goal of making it easy for "all citizens to use AI in their daily lives."
Chung Shina, CEO of Kakao, said, "The upcoming KakaoTalk overhaul will establish a virtuous cycle structure that naturally connects platform traffic growth to revenue," and added, "In the second half of this year, we will sequentially launch various AI services connected to KakaoTalk, opening an AI era for all citizens."