Kakao CEO Cannot Sell Shares for 2 Years After IPO... IPO Review Underway (Comprehensive)

Kakao Mobility and Entertainments IPO Review Reconsideration

Kakao Pangyo Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Kakao, which faced internal turmoil over stock option "meoktwi" controversy, has established stock sale regulations at the community level.

Kakao's Community Alignment Center announced on the 13th that it has established and will immediately implement stock sale regulations for executives across all affiliates. The Community Alignment Center is an organization responsible for coordinating and supporting the strategic direction of all Kakao affiliates.

Going forward, executives of Kakao affiliate companies will not be allowed to sell stocks for one year after listing. The sales restriction applies without exception to stocks received through exercising stock options. The application period is from the date of submission of the securities registration statement until one year after listing.

For the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the sales restriction is even stricter, extended to two years instead of one. Joint stock sales by executives are also prohibited.

Previously, Ryu Young-jun, who was appointed as co-CEO of Kakao, sparked a "meoktwi" controversy among employees by selling a large amount of Kakao Pay shares along with other executives. Eight key executives of Kakao Pay, including Ryu, sold 90 billion KRW worth of Kakao Pay shares on December 10 last year, about a month after Kakao Pay's listing. Ryu liquidated 46.9 billion KRW in cash. After the controversy continued with the labor union issuing a statement, Ryu expressed his intention to voluntarily resign from the co-CEO position of Kakao.

Kakao has established a pre-risk inspection process for stock sales by executives of listed companies. In the future, when an executive sells stocks, they must share the quantity and period of the sale one month in advance with the Community Alignment Center and the IR team of their affiliated company. The stock sale regulations apply even if the executive moves to another affiliate or retires from the current company.

A Kakao official said, "We are considering Kakao's social role and plan to devise and apply various measures to strengthen the ethical awareness of management and employees and to prevent risks."

Kakao also plans to review the listing of the community to fulfill its social responsibility for growth.

After reviewing the listings of Kakao Mobility and Kakao Entertainment, a specific direction will be decided. Although the two companies were expected to be listed within the year, there is also a possibility that the listing may be postponed following this process.

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