Kakao Achieves Another Record-Breaking Performance... First Ever Quarterly Revenue Surpasses 1 Trillion Won (Update)

Cho Soo-yong (left), Co-CEO of Kakao, and Yeo Min-soo, Co-CEO of Kakao

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Kakao has surpassed 1 trillion KRW in quarterly sales and 100 billion KRW in operating profit for the first time in history, breaking its record for highest sales and operating profit once again.

Kakao announced on the 5th that its Q3 sales reached 1.1004 trillion KRW and operating profit was 120.2 billion KRW. These figures represent a 41% and 103% increase respectively compared to the same period last year, marking the highest quarterly performance ever. Kakao has continued its streak of maximum operating profit for seven consecutive quarters.

Kakao's strong performance was driven by its advertising and commerce businesses based on KakaoTalk, as well as its global content business. Kakao's revenue is divided into two segments: the 'Platform segment' and the 'Content segment.' Platform segment revenue, which includes Talk Biz, portal, and new businesses, recorded 554.4 billion KRW, a 58% increase from the same period last year. Content segment revenue grew 26% year-on-year to 546 billion KRW.

In particular, the growth of the online commerce business based on KakaoTalk stood out. Talk Biz revenue, which includes commerce parts such as 'Biz Board' advertising within KakaoTalk, 'Gift,' and 'Talk Store,' reached 284.4 billion KRW, a 75% increase compared to the same period last year. Portal Biz revenue, which utilizes the Daum portal, decreased by 4% to 121.2 billion KRW.

New business segment revenue was 148.8 billion KRW, showing a 139% growth driven by the expansion of Kakao Mobility's taxi platform business and increased transaction volume in Kakao Pay. The franchise taxi service 'Kakao T Blue' also contributed to new business growth by surpassing 10,000 operating vehicles.

The growth of content businesses such as webtoons and web novels also contributed to improved performance. Paid content revenue grew 61% year-on-year to 148.4 billion KRW, accelerated by global transaction growth centered on Japan. A Kakao representative explained, "Kakao Japan's webtoon platform 'Piccoma' has been setting new records daily for monthly active users and daily transaction volume, ranking first in sales among Japanese manga apps since July."

Game content revenue achieved 150.4 billion KRW, a 52% increase year-on-year, fueled by the success of the new mobile game 'Guardian Tales.' Music content revenue rose 3% year-on-year to 155.7 billion KRW. Intellectual property (IP) business and other revenues increased 2% year-on-year to 91.5 billion KRW.

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