Kakao
Kakao (Korean: 카카오) is a South Korean internet company that was established in 2010. It formed as a result of a merger between Daum Communications and the original Kakao Inc. In 2014, the company was renamed Daum Kakao.[4] The company rebranded once more in 2015, reverting simply to Kakao.[5]
Native name | 주식회사 카카오 |
|---|---|
Romanized name | RR: Jusikhoesa Kakao MR: Chushikhoesa K'ak'ao |
| Type | Public |
| KRX: 035720 | |
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded | 2010 (original company; as Kakao Inc.) 1 October 2014 (current company) |
| Founder | Brian Kim |
| Headquarters | Jeju City, South Korea |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Brian Kim (Founder) Stephan Kim (Chairman, Head of Corporate Alignment Center)[a][1] Eun-taek Hong (CEO)[2] |
| Products | KakaoTalk, Daum |
| Revenue | KRW₩ 4.16 trillion (2020)[3] |
| KRW₩ 167.1 billion (2020) | |
| Owners | Brian Kim 25.66% NPS 8.47% Tencent 6.35% |
Number of employees | 10,644 (2020) |
| Subsidiaries | Kakao Entertainment Kakao Games Kakao Friends Kakao Mobility Lycos, Inc. |
| Website | www.kakaocorp.com |
| Kakao | |
| Hangul | 카카오 |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Kakao |
| McCune–Reischauer | K'ak'ao |
In May 2015, the company acquired Path, an American social media company that had become successful in Indonesia.[6] In January 2016, Kakao acquired a 76.4% stake in LOEN Entertainment, a large South Korean entertainment company, for $1.5 billion.[7] It was later rebranded as Kakao M. The company has gained further prominence from KakaoTalk, a free mobile instant messaging application for smartphones with text and call features. By May 2017, the app had 220 million registered users and 47 million active monthly users.[8]
As of March 2022, the company is competing with Naver Corporation for No.1 position in the Japanese web comic and web novel market.[9]
History
2006-2014: Founding of Kakao Corp.
Kakao Corp is the company behind KakaoTalk, which serves as its main platform and flagship application. It was founded in 2006 by Kim Bum-soo, the former CEO of NHN Corporation (the organization that emerged from the Hangame and Naver.com merger) as Kakao Inc.[10] Kakao Corp. (then known as Kakao Inc.) is based in Seoul, South Korea. Manson Yeo and Sean Joh serve as the current co-CEOs.[11]
In August 2013, three of globally ranked top 10 Android games (according to analytics provider App Annie) are tied into the KakaoTalk platform—Everybody’s Marble, Cookie Run, and Anipang.[12][13] With 93 percent of South Korea's users on KakaoTalk, the free downloads of the games Ani Pang and Dragon Flight, which can only be played with a Kakao Talk account, were deemed "national" games. To maintain simplicity across all the provided services, Kakao applications can be purchased and logged in with links to KakaoTalk.[14] Kakao Corp generated revenue of approximately $200M (USD) in 2013 through gaming, digital content, mobile commerce, and its marketing channels for brands and celebrities.[15] Kakao Corp. was named a Top Developer on Google's Android Market, and KakaoTalk was chosen as the number one Free SMS App by Cnet.[16]
According to a December 2013 App Annie report, Kakao is the world's third top publisher by monthly revenue at Google Play. Kakao Corp. is the number one publisher for iOS and Google Play in South Korea, and KakaoTalk is the number one app for iOS and Google Play revenue in South Korea.[17] KakaoTalk was nominated for the Most Innovative Mobile App Award at the Global Mobile Awards 2014.[18] Kakao Corp. agreed to buy Daum Communications Corp, to cut costs and save time to jump-start growth and gain a listing in Seoul, South Korea.[19]
Kakao Corp's full suite of apps includes: KakaoTalk, KakaoStory, KakaoTaxi, KakaoAccount, KakaoMap, KakaoDriver, KakaoBus, KakaoMusic, KakaoGroup, KakaoHome, KakaoPlace, KakaoAlbum, KakaoPage, KakaoStyle, and KakaoAgit.[20]
2014–2015: Merger of Daum and Kakao
On 26 May 2014, Kakao Corp. announced that it had decided to merge with Daum Communications, one of Korea's top Internet portals, through a stock swap. Once the two firms were combined the emergent company would have a ₩3 trillion (equivalent to ₩3.11 trillion or US$2.75 billion in 2017)[21] market capitalization, enabling it to lodge a credible threat to Naver, which is South Korea's biggest web portal.[22] The new entity Daum Kakao was valued close to ₩10 trillion[23] (equivalent to ₩10.37 trillion or US$9.17 billion in 2017)[21].
In 2015, the company changed its name to Kakao, restoring its pre-merger name. Due to gambling and censorship issues within the Kakao ecosystem, the organization's board of directors ejected Kim-beom-soo as CEO and decided to replace him with Rim Ji-hoon.[24][25][26] Kim Beom-soo become the largest shareholder in the new pro forma company with a 22.2 percent stake.[27]
2015–present: New business model
Internet bank
Kakao was approved by South Korean regulators to become the nation's first internet-only bank in 2017. The internet bank engages in the same business as commercial banks, including processing deposits, loans and wiring money. Consumers will no longer need to visit a bank to open a new bank account or to get a loan. Kakao's business plan was considered innovative, and the company's business model was expected to secure sizable customer sign-ups relatively easily, based on the users of KakaoTalk, which is the country's most popular messaging application.[28]
Although K Bank eventually became South Korea's first Internet-only bank having been launched several months prior, Kakao Bank immediately attracted more customers; 820,000 within four days of its launch on 27 July 2017.[29] The dedicated Kakao Bank app itself was downloaded 1.5 million times within the same period.[29] The bank had 3.5 million customers after a month.[30] These figures trounced the 400,000 users that K-Bank amassed within 100 days of its existence.[30] By 26 September 2017, Kakao Bank lent ₩1.4 trillion ($1.2 billion), constituting 40 percent of the total loans in all of South Korea for that particular month.[31] The bank's unprecedented expansion is seen as an exception to the closure of banks, particularly foreign-owned institutions. The fledgling performance for these banks is being blamed on the high cost of maintaining brick-and-mortar operations and the popularity of internet finance among Korean consumers.[31]
Transportation services
On 10 March 2015, Daum Kakao launched their KakaoTaxi service that allows users to call a taxi using the KakaoTaxi application.[32] About 600,000 taxi-consumers used the ride-hailing platform every day within eight months of its launch.[33][34]
In 2017, KakaoTaxi was renamed to Kakao T. The service includes the premium extension Kakao Taxi Black, which allows users to book rides in Seoul via the messenger app, exclusively carried in luxury cars such as Mercedes Benz, Lexus, and BMW. Fares for the premium service start at ₩8,000. Kakao announced plans to expand the offering to other Korean cities within the following year.[35] Kakao announced in April 2019 that they would be launching a e-bike sharing service with an initial fleet of 400 bikes across two major cities.[36]
2022 outage
After a massive outage in October 2022, the co-chief executive, Namkoong Whon, resigned. A fire at an SK C&C data center in the south of Seoul caused a mass outage over the weekend and disrupted several of Kakao’s services, including messenger, ride-hailing, payment, banking and gaming.[37][38]
Charity
In March 2022, amid 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kakao donated approx. $3.65 million worth of Klay cryptocurrency to UNICEF to battle humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.[39][40]
Services
Korea
Kakao provides a diverse set of services.
Community
- KakaoTalk: instant messaging and VoIP service
- KakaoStory: image, video, and music sharing service
- KakaoPage: web-based comic and novel service
- Brunch: mobile contents publishing service
Entertainment
- KakaoMusic: music app with sharing features
- Melon: music streaming service acquired through Kakao M
- PotPlayer: media player for Windows
Fashion
- KakaoStyle: mobile fashion service.
- KakaoHairshop: service, finding a nearby beauty salon
Finance
- KakaoPay: mobile e-wallet, integrated with KakaoTalk
- KakaoBank: mobile bank in Korea.
- Klaytn: consumer blockchain platform for mobile payments (via its subsidiary Ground X)[41]
Investment
- Kakao INV: Investment in late stage startups.
- Kakao Ventures: Venture Capital for early stage startups.
Transportation
- Kakao T: transportation service app, providing taxi hailing, chauffeur service and navigation services.
- KakaoBus: real-time location and traffic information on buses.
- KakaoMetro: metro line app, allows users to view the metro map, plan trips, and check prices.
Video Games
- Kakao Games: video game subsidiary.
Others
- KakaoFriends: diverse products including finance, distribution, foods, and so on
- KakaoHello: Call app service based on Kakao account
- KakaoTV: integrates Kakao TV Live broadcasting with KakaoTalk's open chatting
- KakaoHome: service, managing Smartphone home display
- KakaoPlace: service, sharing famous places
- KakaoAlbum: sharing pictures with Kakao friends
- Path: US social network service (discontinued)
Japan
Kakao Japan Corporation is the Japanese subsidiary of Kakao. It currently offers some of Kakao's Korean services as well as specific ones for the Japanese market. Kakao Japan has announced plans to launch a music service in a second attempt to penetrate the Japanese market.[42] In April 2018, Kakao Japan announced plans to launch a video streaming service to compete against Netflix and Amazon with a similar pay model to their Piccoma service.[43] The streaming service will be called Piccoma TV.[44]
Controversy
KakaoTalk censorship
When the announcement by the Korean government that it would tighten its real-time monitoring to prevent people from spreading false information, the company cooperated fully by providing reams of conversation data. KakaoTalk users expressed their displeasure to the censorship saying that they would migrate to other messenger services. Because of this, as many as 1.5 million users are reported to have recently signed up for the mobile messenger service Telegram, which is known for its security.[45]
Daum Kakao has explained the censorship, saying, "It is unthinkable not to follow the rules in a constitutional country." "The move (by Daum Kakao) reflects users' repulsion and fear against cyber censorship", said Yoo Ki-hong, a spokesman of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy. "The government should understand the sense of resistance of the people on the issue, rather than justifying its execution of warrants."
Kakao Corp. chairman accused of gambling
Kakao board chairman Kim Beom-soo was accused of gambling in Las Vegas in the early years of Kakao Corp from 2007 to 2010. Overseas gambling is illegal under Korean law. Korean prosecutors have reportedly obtained information from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury that Kakao mobile messenger founder Kim had spent 20 hours and 51 minutes at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas in 2007 when he served as NHN Global CEO. He bet an average of $2,440 per session and lost $16,993, Korean Hankook Ilbo newspaper reported.[46] The company decided to comply with the prosecution's warrants requesting monitoring of chatting records, a reversal from its earlier stance.[46]
Notes
- ^ Also concurrent CEO of subsidiary Kakao Entertainment. Not related to Brian Kim.
References
- ^ Yoo, So-yeon (4 April 2022). "Kakao to build large-scale K-pop performance venue in northern Seoul". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ Wang, Catherine (19 October 2022). "Korean Internet Giant Kakao's Co-CEO Resigns Amid Heat From Data Center Fire". Forbes. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
- ^ "Earning Release 2021". ir.expediagroup.com. 13 February 2020.
- ^ . Kakao Corp. Kakao. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
- ^ "Daum Kakao Sets Sail Under New Name". The Chosun Ilbo. Seoul. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
- ^ "Path Sells Its Social Networking App To Daum Kakao". TechCrunch. 29 May 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
Path became very popular in some Asian markets – most notably Indonesia, where most of its current active users are today.
- ^ "Kakao acquires Loen". The Korea Times. 11 January 2016.
- ^ "Kakaotalk: number of monthly active users 2017 - Statistic". Statista.
- ^ "Naver, Kakao competing for no 1 position in Japanese web comic market". ThePrint. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ Kim, Nam Kyu (18 March 2010). . Economy Today. Archived from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ "Kakao". kakaocorp.com (in Korean). Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ ACUÑA, ABEL (19 October 2013). "Why is mobile gaming so popular in South Korea?". VentureBeat. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
- ^ Willington, Peter (25 November 2013). "'You can't crack Korea's top 10 without KakaoTalk': Yooii Studios on making a mark in Asia". pocketgamer.biz.
- ^ . KoreaMarketing.co=22 December 2013. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ^ "South Korea's Kakao Pushes Boundaries of Social Media". The Wall Street Journal. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- ^ "Cnet's No.1 Free SMS app KakaoTalk". Cnet. 26 September 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ "App Annie Index: Apps – LINE Tops the Revenue Rankings". AppAnnie. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
- ^ "Korean Software Recognition". BusinessKorea. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ^ "Kakao Corp Agrees to Buy Daum to Spur Growth, Gain Seoul Listing". Bloomberg. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ^ "Kakao Corp Home". Kakao. 21 April 2014.
- ^ a b 1906 to 1911: Williamson J., Nominal Wage, Cost of Living, Real Wage and Land Rent Data for Korea 1906-1939 1912 to 1939: Mizoguchi, T. (1972). CONSUMER PRICES AND REAL WAGES IN TAIWAN AND KOREA UNDER JAPANESE RULE. Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, 13(1), 40-56. Retrieved May 21, 2021. Afterwards, consumer Price index from Statistics Korea. Consumer Price Index by year. Retrieved 3 April 2018
- ^ "Daum, Kakao announce merger". The Korea Herald. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
- ^ "Daum and Kakao merge, massive valuation puts them head-to-head with Naver-Line". techinasia. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ^ . businesskorea. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
- ^ "Daum Kakao to change its name to Kakao". yonhapnews. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ Russell, Jon. "Korea's Daum Kakao Brings in 34-Year-Old CEO To Grow Its Messaging Business Overseas". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
- ^ Lee, Min-Jeong (26 May 2014). "South Korean Messaging-App Maker Kakao to Buy Web Portal Daum". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ "Kakao, KT Surge After South Korea Grants Online Banking Permits". bloomberg. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
- ^ a b "Kakao Bank attracts 820,000+ clients in four days since launch". FinTech Futures. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ a b Ray, Stephane (19 October 2017). "Kakao Bank: from 0 to 1,5 millions customers in just one week!". Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ a b Song, Jung-a (5 October 2017). "South Korea web-only banks thrive as traditional lenders struggle". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
- ^ Shu, Catherine. "Daum Kakao Debuts Uber Rival KakaoTaxi in South Korea". TechCrunch. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
- ^ "Messaging app Kakao's taxi service already has 84% of Seoul's drivers signed up". The Drum. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
- ^ Jin-young, Cho (17 December 2015). "Kakao Taxi Draws 600,000 Requests per Day". BusinessKorea. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
- ^ "Kakao Launches Luxury Taxi Service". Chosun. 4 November 2015.
- ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem".
- ^ "Kakao outage: Co-chief executive quits South Korea internet giant". BBc News. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ Singh, Manish (19 October 2022). "Kakao co-CEO resigns, company to invest over $300M to build data center after mass outage". TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ "카카오, 우크라이나 돕기 클레이 코인 300만개 기부…42억원 규모". 서울신문 (in Korean). Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ "Korean companies extend helping hand to Ukraine". koreatimes. 6 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem".
- ^ "Kakao readies Japan push with music and game content". Nikkei. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ "Kakao to launch video-streaming app in Japan". Nikkei. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ "Kakao to launch piccomaTV video streaming service this summer". telecompaper. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ "Daum Kakao in Serious Danger after "Censorship" Announcement". hankyung. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Kakao chairman again embroiled in gambling scandal". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
32. Naver vs. Kakao: Way of working with startups. https://pickool.net/naver-vs-kakao-way-of-working-with-startups/
External links
Official website