Chief Executive Lee Won-joo, who was appointed head of Kakao Enterprise in March last year to create business synergy with Kakao subsidiary DKT, voluntarily resigned as DKT CEO on the 1st of this month. While Lee remains CEO of Kakao Enterprise, concerns are rising that management uncertainty at Kakao Enterprise—where losses had been narrowed and results improved—has grown.
Kakao Enterprise provides cloud infrastructure, and DKT handles system integration (SI) build-outs and operations for external clients. Through this, they can establish a business-to-business (B2B) transaction structure that runs from orders to build and operations. Kakao also had Lee lead both companies to combine their technological capabilities and sales power to boost competitiveness in the B2B market.
◇ CEO who drove synergy between the two companies… concurrent posts end a little over a year after taking office
According to the industry on the 19th, Lee voluntarily resigned from the DKT CEO post on the 1st of this month, about two months after the DKT CEO duties were suspended in April. Kakao said, "CEO Lee Won-joo voluntarily resigned due to an internal management issue at DKT, and accordingly, we newly appointed Lee Chae-young as the new CEO." However, regarding the specifics of the management issue, the company said, "It is difficult to disclose details as they are confidential."
Some allege that while running DKT, Lee aided a company with which there were personal ties, causing losses to the firm. The company is said to be investigating the facts, including whether the procedures and terms of the transaction were appropriate and whether any conflicts of interest arose in the decision-making process. However, the relevant allegations have not been confirmed as fact. Kakao also did not disclose what exactly the internal management issue is or what stage the fact-finding has reached.
Lee has led DKT for more than 10 years since 2015. In March last year, Lee was also officially appointed CEO of Kakao Enterprise. At the time, Kakao adopted a dual-CEO system to combine Lee's B2B IT business experience with Kakao Enterprise's AI and cloud infrastructure capabilities. Upon taking office, Lee said, "We will organically connect the technological prowess and business capabilities held by Kakao Enterprise and DKT and maximize business synergy."
Kakao Enterprise's performance improved last year as the two companies' collaboration system went into operation. Revenue rose 25.9% from 134.8 billion won in 2024 to 169.7 billion won last year. During the same period, operating loss fell 49% from 67.2 billion won to 34.3 billion won. The problem is that at a time when Kakao Enterprise needs to sustain its rebound, the leadership of the CEO who had led the collaboration has been shaken.
◇ CEO's position also at stake depending on fact-finding results
Depending on future fact-finding, Lee's position as CEO of Kakao Enterprise is also expected to be a variable. As the substance of DKT's internal management issue has not been finally confirmed, it is difficult to conclude Lee's responsibility at present. However, if corporate losses, conflicts of interest, or breaches of fiduciary duty by management come to light, it will be hard to rule out the possibility that Lee's continuation as CEO of Kakao Enterprise will also be affected. Since authority over both companies was entrusted together for synergy, some note that if problems are confirmed, it will be difficult to segregate responsibility by company.
The Kakao labor union has expressed concern about the uncertainty of Kakao Enterprise's management leadership since Lee's duties were suspended. On June 4, the Kakao chapter of the Korean Chemical, Textile and Food Industry Workers' Union issued a statement arguing that with Lee's duties suspended as concurrently serving DKT CEO, even Kakao Enterprise's management leadership had become uncertain. The union noted that with the mid- to long-term vision and business roadmap for the cloud business unclear, repeated reorganizations and job insecurity have been compounded by CEO risk.
With Lee's resignation from DKT, Kakao's plan to raise synergy by entrusting both companies' CEO roles to one person has effectively become subject to review. While business cooperation between Kakao Enterprise and DKT can continue, the key question is how organically they can connect orders, technology development, and customer response with management separated. Depending on whether Kakao maintains the Lee leadership structure or redesigns the roles and methods of collaboration between the two companies under new leadership, Kakao Enterprise's performance improvement is also expected to be affected.