Kakao's Kim Beom-su Donation of 5 Trillion Won: Where Will It Be Used?

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] As Kim Beom-su, chairman of the Kakao board, announced his intention to donate half of his wealth, attention is focused on how to utilize the donation amounting to 5 trillion won.

According to industry sources on the 9th, the value of Kim's assets, combining 12,170,631 Kakao shares held under his personal name and 9,929,467 Kakao shares held through ‘K Cube Holdings’, which he owns 100% of, exceeds 10 trillion won. Even half of this amounts to more than 5 trillion won.

Given the enormous scale, it is widely expected that he will not choose the traditional donation method of providing cash or in-kind contributions to a public interest foundation. A Kakao official said, "We will find a way to ensure that donations equivalent to the value of the shares (5 trillion won) are made," adding, "However, because of the large scale (of the donation), the donation process will be carried out step-by-step through discussions with employees, shareholders, and company stakeholders."

Looking back at Kim's past statements, one can somewhat gauge his vision for social contribution. In a message sent to Kakao employees the day before, Kim said, "Witnessing social issues intensifying in various ways during these turbulent times, I felt that I could no longer delay this decision," and added, "We plan to find and support people to solve social problems in areas that Kakao has difficulty accessing."

In a message sent in March to mark the 10th anniversary of KakaoTalk's launch, he emphasized, "The most efficient organization to solve social problems could be a company," and said, "With rapidly advancing technology and our unique problem-solving methods, I hope the crew (employees) will take an interest in solving many social problems that people are facing one by one."

This suggests a focus on discovering and supporting talent. A Kakao official also said, "Social issues include educational gaps, problems faced by people with disabilities, and many others, but the systems and technologies to solve these are created by people," adding, "Ultimately, investment in people will be made."

Kim's investment in people can be easily found in past examples. Since the establishment of ‘iWilab’, the predecessor of Kakao, in 2006, he set the goal of nurturing junior entrepreneurs and declared, "I will nurture 100 CEOs." Later, in 2012, he established Kakao Ventures and invested in about 180 startups, many of which were incorporated into Kakao affiliates, achieving his goal.

There are also speculations that the existing Kakao social contribution foundation, ‘Kakao Impact’, could be expanded. Through this foundation, Kakao has supported projects aimed at solving mobility issues for transportation-vulnerable groups and educational problems for children with disabilities using IT technology. Since the funding came from Kakao affiliates, there is a possibility that Kim’s personal assets may be added to the foundation.

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