Kakao's Kim Beom-su Resigns as Chairman of the Board... "Focusing on Global Expansion" (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kim Beom-su, Chairman of the Kakao Board of Directors, is stepping down from the board. He plans to focus on the core task of Kakao’s next 10 years, the keyword ‘Beyond Korea,’ and support global expansion.

On the 14th, Kim announced in a message to all employees, "I am stepping down as Chairman of the Kakao Board of Directors to shift my focus to the global expansion of the Kakao community for Beyond Korea."

However, Kim will retain his role as head of the Future Initiative Center and continue to provide vision for the future growth of the entire Kakao community as a founder of Kakao.

Kim’s role transition is part of Kakao’s global strategy restructuring. Kakao previously set the core keywords for the next 10 years as ‘Beyond Korea’ and ‘Beyond Mobile,’ and announced plans to develop strategies through various methodologies.

Regarding this, Kim explained, "'Beyond Korea' is Kakao’s own mission and a strong demand from Korean society to pioneer new lands beyond the starting point of Korea, the overseas market. Beyond Mobile refers to the business directions emerging after the completion of the past 10 years of development in the context of connectivity, such as metaverse and Web 3.0."

He added, "NK (Namgoong Hoon, Kakao’s designated CEO) will lead efforts to pioneer new areas like the metaverse for Beyond Mobile, while I will focus on tasks related to Beyond Korea."

Kim identified Japan as the starting point for Beyond Korea. He previously established Hangame Japan in 2000 to enter the Japanese market. Since 2017, he has served as an internal director of Kakao Piccoma, participating in business activities between Korea and Japan. Based on his successful experience and business know-how that built today’s Kakao, he plans to explore new business opportunities centered on Piccoma and focus on expanding Kakao’s global market presence.

Kim said, "Japan has been a market we have continuously pursued from the Hangame days, through the early days of KakaoTalk, to Piccoma. Going forward, I want to support Piccoma’s expansion beyond content into various fields and become a key foothold for the global growth of the Kakao community."

Kakao’s major affiliates will also strengthen their overseas market strategies in line with the ‘Beyond Korea’ direction. Kakao Entertainment, currently targeting North America, ASEAN, Greater China, India, and Europe through various platforms such as Kakao Webtoon, Tapas, Radish, and Usia World, plans to triple its global transaction volume by 2024. It will also secure production competitiveness across all platforms from OTT to TV and screens, focusing on planning and producing super IPs aimed at the global market.

Kakao Games has successfully completed the trial service of the mobile game Odin in Taiwan after great success domestically and is preparing for its official release this year, along with preparing global services for various new games.

Kim’s management partner, designated CEO Namgoong, is restructuring Kakao’s various businesses and services into a structure conducive to global expansion, leading Kakao’s growth domestically and internationally. At a press conference last month, Namgoong stated, "The Korean-language smartphone user base is 50 million, which is 1% of the 5 billion smartphone users worldwide. Now, Kakao must move from 1% to 99%. Kakao’s growth is just beginning," expressing his commitment to global expansion.

Meanwhile, Kakao held an extraordinary board meeting on the same day and appointed Hong Eun-taek, co-head of the Kakao Alignment Center, as a new internal director. Accordingly, Co-head Hong will coordinate Kakao community’s social responsibility and strategic direction alongside Co-head Kim Seong-su, supporting Kakao’s ‘Beyond Korea’ and ‘Beyond Mobile’ initiatives. The board reorganization will be finalized after the shareholders’ meeting on March 29.

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