Will Kim Beom-su Return to Kakao After Stepping Down from Management?

Hong Euntaek Sole CEO, Full Effort for Recovery
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Kim Beom-su, Chairman of Kakao, appeared as a witness at the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee's audit of the Korea Communications Commission held at the National Assembly on the 21st, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] With Namgung Hoon, co-CEO of Kakao, abruptly deciding to resign, a change in the leadership structure is anticipated. For the time being, Hong Eun-taek will lead as the sole CEO, but since Namgung has been at the forefront of services and business areas, a gap in roles is inevitable. As Kakao faces its biggest crisis since its founding due to the Kakao outage disaster, there are also predictions that Kim Beom-su, head of Kakao Future Initiative Center, is likely to return to management.

CEO Namgung Resigns After 7 Months

CEO Namgung was appointed as the sole CEO of Kakao last March. As Kim’s trusted aide who appeared during crises, he was entrusted with steering Kakao’s direction. At that time, amid growing controversies over KakaoPay executives’ embezzlement and a plummeting Kakao stock price, he was tasked with the heavy responsibilities of "restoring trust" and "innovation."

Even before his official inauguration, CEO Namgung set the tone by declaring he would only accept the legal minimum wage until the stock price recovered to 150,000 won, but he could not escape responsibility for the recent Kakao outage incident. As of the fifth day after the fire, the complete restoration of services has been delayed, fueling widespread user distrust, and the government and political circles have announced strong regulatory measures. Kakao is facing its greatest crisis since its founding.

With CEO Namgung’s resignation, CEO Hong, who was appointed as co-CEO in July, will lead the company alone. CEO Hong, who is chairing the emergency response committee related to the fire, plans to devote all efforts to resolving the situation. He intends to establish stringent measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring and to develop compensation policies for the victims.

Prospects of Kim Beom-su’s Return

Facing major changes, Kim Beom-su’s concerns are expected to deepen. Although CEO Hong has experience across the entire business and plays a role encompassing the whole community, CEO Namgung’s role in overseeing the headquarters’ business was crucial. The shift to a co-CEO system was intended to assign business and ESG management respectively to Namgung and Hong.

Especially from a business perspective, there is still a long way to go. Kakao has just begun to pilot advertising on "Open Chat," which serves as a forward base for the metaverse, marking the first step toward improving profitability. Next, they plan to launch an independent app called "Open Link" to expand services into the metaverse. The reason voices are calling for Kim to return to active management is to overcome the current crisis and realize Kakao’s future vision.

Kim resigned as chairman of the board in March this year, stating he would focus on global business and stepped away from frontline management. However, with Kakao Group’s market capitalization shrinking to 40 trillion won and comprehensive political regulations related to the Kakao incident, Kim’s role is gaining prominence. Although he stepped down from management, as Kakao’s largest shareholder, he cannot escape responsibility for this incident and has been summoned as a witness for the national audit.

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