New Phase in Kakao Mobility Sale... CEO Ryu Geung-seon’s Bold Move

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, proposed creating a new growth direction plan while requesting the parent company Kakao to withdraw the sale. Kakao also sent positive signals regarding this proposal, marking a new phase in the sale issue.

According to industry sources on the 26th, Kakao Mobility held an "All Hands Meeting" with all employees participating the day before to discuss matters related to the company’s sale issue. The meeting was attended by key executives including CEO Ryu, An Gyu-jin, Chief Business Officer (CBO), Lee Chang-min, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Yoo Seung-il, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Kakao Mobility.

This meeting followed CEO Ryu’s announcement on the same day through an internal notice, requesting Kakao to postpone the sale of mobility shares. In the notice, Ryu stated, "I candidly conveyed to Hong Eun-taek, co-CEO responsible for ESG management at Kakao affiliates, the reason for Kakao Mobility’s existence, its direction, and employees’ opinions," adding, "I requested time to consider ways to fulfill social responsibilities, as expressed in the banners posted around the company by the labor union, by postponing the sale discussions." He also mentioned that he would form a consultative body independently to establish ways to fulfill social responsibilities and deliver them to Kakao.

Kakao responded positively to CEO Ryu’s proposal, saying, "Kakao has not decided on the sale, so various discussions can take place," and added, "Since Mobility is forming its own consultative body to create a plan for growing together with society, Kakao respects and supports this and looks forward to seeing what plan will emerge."

CEO Ryu plans to form the consultative body soon and prepare a win-win plan by next month. It is known that during the meeting, employees’ opinions were gathered on topics such as what kind of win-win measures to propose to Kakao.

Industry insiders evaluate CEO Ryu’s proposal as a last-ditch effort to prevent the company’s sale. In particular, with the recent taxi supply shortage crisis raising the possibility that the government may ease mobility-related regulations, Ryu believes there is no longer a reason for Kakao to aggressively push for the sale of shares. It is reported that Ryu cited this situation as justification when requesting the postponement of the sale.

However, after the failed initial public offering, the industry outlook suggests that the possibility of withdrawing the sale is not very high, given that Kakao is unlikely to ignore demands from other major shareholders such as TPG and Carlyle to sell their shares.

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