Naver and Kakao 'Shareholders Meeting Week'... CEO Reappointment and Stock Options

Hansung-sook, CEO of Naver

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] South Korea's two major portals, Naver and Kakao, will each hold their regular shareholder meetings this week and decide on the reappointment of their CEOs.

According to industry sources on the 23rd, Naver will hold its regular general meeting of shareholders on the 27th at Naver Green Factory in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. The main agenda is the reappointment of CEO Han Seong-sook. Since Naver already held a board meeting on the 26th of last month and approved the reappointment of CEO Han, her reappointment is considered certain. Byeon Dae-gyu, chairman of Naver's board, will also be reappointed at this shareholders' meeting.

CEO Han, who took office in March 2017, has gained trust by achieving Naver's external growth. Annual sales, which were 4 trillion won in 2016, have increased by 1 trillion won each year, surpassing 6 trillion won last year. CEO Han is also credited with laying the foundation for Naver's continuous growth by discovering new businesses such as fintech and artificial intelligence (AI). This year, CEO Han plans to focus on establishing next-generation growth engines such as webtoons and finance and leveraging them to deliver business results.

At the shareholders' meeting, Naver will also discuss a proposal to grant stock options of 1,069,869 shares to 3,084 employees. The exercise price per share is 186,000 won. This is the second consecutive year of large-scale stock options following last year. Naver explained, "This is to share future growth potential with employees, secure the basic driving force to increase corporate value in the mid to long term, and thereby promote shareholder value enhancement." In March last year, Naver granted 1,263,167 shares to 3,466 employees for the first time since its founding.

Joo Sooyong (left), Co-CEO of Kakao, and Yeo Minsu (right), Co-CEO of Kakao

Kakao will hold its shareholders' meeting on the 25th at its headquarters in Jeju Island. The key agenda items are the reappointment of Chairman Kim Beom-su, the reappointment of co-CEOs Yeo Min-soo and Cho Soo-yong, and the appointment of outside directors. The reappointments of CEOs Yeo and Cho are also considered certain. This is the first time since the 2014 merger of Daum and Kakao that the CEOs are being reappointed.

The reason the two CEOs have gained trust is attributed to the improvement in the company's management performance. Kakao's annual sales, which were less than 2 trillion won in 2017, rose to 2.417 trillion won in 2018 and surpassed 3 trillion won for the first time last year. In particular, 'Talk Biz,' a KakaoTalk-based business, grew rapidly, recording sales of 649.8 billion won last year and aiming to reach 1 trillion won this year.

The newly appointed outside directors of Kakao are Yoon Seok, CEO of Yoon & Co., Choi Se-jung, professor of media studies at Korea University, and Park Sae-rom, professor of convergence security engineering at Sungshin Women's University. They will lead the board together with reappointed Professor Cho Kyu-jin of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University.

Meanwhile, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Naver and Kakao announced that they will conduct temperature checks at the shareholder meetings and require shareholders to wear masks. Kakao stated that shareholders not wearing masks will be restricted from entry.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.