Kakao said in a New Year's address that it will raise the group's value by making AI and a global fandom new growth engines.
Chung Shin-a, Kakao's CEO and chair, said, "Last year was a time of condensation, in which we strengthened our fundamentals, overhauled our systems, and concentrated the group's capabilities on core priorities," adding, "Now, based on that condensed energy, it is time to shift gears to 'growth.'" She then laid out two key pillars to drive growth in 2026: ▲ human-centric AI and ▲ a global fandom OS (Global Fandom Operating System).
The first growth pillar for the Kakao group, "human-centric AI," is a strategy to maximize Kakao's unique strength—its understanding of the context within users' daily lives and relationships built with 50 million users. Chung emphasized, "AI will evolve beyond a tool that simply executes commands into agentic AI that first understands users' intentions and situations and connects the next action."
To that end, the Kakao group plans to further advance On-device AI that protects personal information. To strengthen execution of the AI strategy, it will internalize B2C services and core technologies, while flexibly expanding infrastructure—an area requiring large-scale investment—through external partnerships. By securing both efficiency and scalability, the strategy aims to ensure sustainable growth.
The second growth pillar for the Kakao group is a "global fandom OS" that will reach worldwide. The plan is to build a global fandom ecosystem in which fans around the world communicate and create value by combining "full-stack assets," including super IP, platforms, and online-offline interfaces owned by the Kakao group.
Web3 will serve as the core infrastructure that connects these two growth pillars to expand user value. Web3 will function as a trust network that safely and transparently connects a range of activities, from AI agents' reservations and payments to benefits for fan participation.
Chung defined 2026 as "the year that marks the start of Kakao's next 15 years," and urged employees, "Let us not rest on the formulas of past success, but use AI as a 'creative multiplier' that amplifies each person's capabilities and ideas, and continue bold challenges where 1+1 becomes more than 2." She added, "The growth we will build goes beyond financial performance; it is a process that proves the pride and social responsibility of Korea's IT corporations," and emphasized, "Let us ride over the waves of change and move to higher ground and a wider world."
Meanwhile, Kakao carried out intensive, groupwide governance streamlining over the past two years. As a result, it reduced its affiliates from a peak of 147 to 94 as of the end of last year, and achieved financial stability by posting record earnings in succession in the second and third quarters of 2025.