Kakao Group Holds First Joint IR, Unveils Post-Split Growth and Collaboration Plans for Affiliates

Kakao Group held its first joint analyst briefing on the 13th. The briefing took place before the corporate split. Kakao announced in August a plan for a spin-off that would split off Kakao AI and Kakao X, saying that faster decision-making had become difficult as the business scale expanded and the business structure grew more complex. The purpose of the split was to drive growth in response to the AI era.

Kakao divided its business into two areas and set a policy to operate them as independent systems. Through this, it expects to move each business strategy forward more quickly.

The briefing was attended by major affiliate CEO, including Kakao CEO Chung Shina. The attending affiliates were Kakao Pay, Kakao Bank, Kakao Entertainment, SM Entertainment, and Kakao Piccoma. The attending CEO took the stage to give presentations and unveiled each company’s vision after the split, growth plans, and plans for cooperation among affiliates.

Chung Shina, the incoming CEO of Kakao AI, said KakaoTalk will be developed into an 'integrated agentic AI interface.' She also set out a goal of going beyond users’ everyday connections to understand individual requests and context. She further suggested a direction in which it would carry out necessary tasks on a user’s behalf.

Kakao X consists of three broad business groups: techfin, content, and mobility. Techfin includes Kakao Bank and Kakao Pay, while content includes Kakao Entertainment, SM Entertainment, and Kakao Piccoma. The mobility business group is led by Kakao Mobility.

Within the techfin business group, Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank presented directions for financial innovation. Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-geun announced an AI agent-based hyper-personalized finance strategy and a strategy to build a digital asset ecosystem centered on stablecoins. Kakao Bank CEO Yoon Ho-young introduced the AI Native Bank transformation and a future financial platform strategy, and also previewed new financial innovation through building AI competitiveness based on its own LLM and expanding its global business.

In the content business group, Kakao Entertainment co-CEO Go Jeong-hui presented growth strategies and a vision. Go proposed supporting global growth of IP based on partnerships, connecting fan experiences through platform upgrades, and expanding live entertainment globally. She also said the company would pursue the next growth phase of K-IP.

SM Entertainment co-CEO Jang Cheol-hyeok emphasized portfolio diversification through the continuous creation of new IP as SM Entertainment’s growth direction, and proposed expanding the global fandom and accelerating growth in the concert business. Kakao Piccoma CEO Kim Jae-yong presented a growth direction that goes beyond being a leading platform, setting AI video and goods as growth pillars and expressing his ambition to grow into Japan’s No. 1 multimedia content platform.

Kim Do-young, the incoming CEO of Kakao X, said he expects future growth in the mobility business group based on the expansion of autonomous driving and physical AI. He identified techfin, content, and mobility as the company’s core business groups, and explained a policy of creating new growth opportunities by promoting links among the platforms, foundational technologies, and customer touchpoints of these core business groups, and connecting that to the long-term enhancement of Kakao X’s corporate value.

Source: TECHWORLD · Kim Hye-jin
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=408150

References

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