[Special Stock] Kakao Rises on Record High Performance and Shareholder Return Policy

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Myunghwan] Kakao showed strong gains in mid-day trading on the 11th following news of its record-breaking performance last year and its shareholder return policy. Although the stock initially fell nearly 2% in early trading, it soon reversed course and rose.

As of 1:50 PM, Kakao was trading at 92,900 KRW, up 6.41% (5,600 KRW) from the previous trading day.

Kakao announced today that its consolidated operating profit for last year was preliminarily estimated at 596.9 billion KRW, a 30.9% increase compared to the previous year. Revenue rose 47.6% year-on-year to 6.1361 trillion KRW, and net profit surged 847.1% to 1.6419 trillion KRW. Both annual operating profit and revenue reached all-time highs.

The company also announced a shareholder-friendly policy. Kakao stated that over the next three years, it will allocate 15?30% of free cash flow based on separate financial statements toward shareholder returns. According to the announcement, 5% of this will be used for cash dividends, and 10?25% will be used for share buybacks and cancellations. A Kakao representative said, "We will maintain a minimum basic dividend per share over the next three years while providing additional dividends in line with company growth," adding, "This year, we plan to cancel treasury shares worth 300 billion KRW following approval at the shareholders' meeting."

Meanwhile, Namgoong Hoon, the designated CEO of Kakao, expressed his intention to receive only the minimum wage until the stock price recovers. In a post on Facebook the previous day, Namgoong said, "I discussed with Brian (Kim Beom-su, Chairman of the Board) ways to put more heart and will into Kakao, and we set the goal of restoring Kakao’s stock price to 150,000 KRW first." He added, "Until the stock price reaches 150,000 KRW, I will suspend all salary and incentive payments and will only receive the legal minimum wage until that day."

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