Former Kakao Entertainment co-CEO Lee Jin-su returned to Kakao in the new year and joined the Kakao Future Initiative Center, led by founder Kim Beom-su as center head, as head of future strategy.
According to the industry on the 5th, Lee reported for his first day of work on the 5th and, together with Kim, will flesh out groupwide future business strategy and help discover and cultivate mid- to long-term growth engines. The Future Initiative Center is an organization within Kakao that oversees new business planning and mid- to long-term strategy and serves as a control tower that adjusts key tasks and investment priorities.
Kakao has designated 2026 as a year of "growth transition," putting people-centric artificial intelligence (AI) and a global fandom OS at the core. AI will be advanced into agentic AI that understands user context and connects to the next action, and On-device AI for privacy protection will also be strengthened. The global fandom OS will combine Kakao's IP and platform asset to grow the fandom ecosystem, and Web3 will be used as infrastructure to safely connect activities such as payments and rewards.
From the Podotree (the predecessor of Kakao Page) days, the former chief was involved in expanding story IP centered on webtoons and web novels beyond content into business. After the launch of Kakao Entertainment, as co-CEO Lee oversaw story IP, platforms, and global business, focusing on global expansion. After stepping down as CEO, Lee has served as chair of the Kakao Creative Foundation, concentrating on supporting creators and building the ecosystem.
Chung Shin-a, chair of the CA Council, recently said in a New Year's address that "it is time to shift gears to 'growth.'" With a strategist who has deep experience in content and IP joining the line, observers say Kakao's restart of growth centered on AI and fandom will gain speed.