KakaoPay 3Q Operating Loss of 9.7 Billion KRW... 852.5% Decrease YoY

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Kakao Pay announced on the 1st that it recorded an operating loss of 9.7 billion KRW in the third quarter of this year. This represents an 852.5% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Third-quarter revenue was 141.4 billion KRW, a 23% increase compared to the same period last year. Net loss for the period was 4.7 billion KRW, and EBITDA showed an operating loss of 3.7 billion KRW.

Operating expenses in the third quarter were 151.1 billion KRW, up 30.3% compared to the same period last year. Compared to the previous year, operating expenses increased due to payment fees from the launch of new financial services, amortization expenses for Kakao Pay Securities MTS, and increased labor costs due to business expansion. However, efficient cost management led to a decrease in most expenses except for revenue-linked costs compared to the previous quarter.

Kakao Pay's transaction volume in the third quarter was 30.5 trillion KRW, a 21% increase compared to the same period last year. Kakao Pay stated that monthly transactions within the platform exceeded 10 trillion KRW, leading to the quarterly transaction volume surpassing 30 trillion KRW for the first time.

In particular, revenue contribution transaction volume (Revenue TPV) centered on payment and financial services accounted for 30% of the total transaction volume. The main infrastructure of the payment business, domestic and overseas online and offline merchants, reached 1.8 million, a 38% increase compared to the same period last year.

Financial service transaction volume grew 37% compared to the same period last year. Loan brokerage transaction volume showed an upward trend for four consecutive quarters due to diversification efforts such as expanding jeonse and monthly rent loan products.

As of the third quarter, the cumulative number of subscribers was 38.48 million, and monthly active users (MAU) increased 12% compared to the same period last year to 22.98 million. MAU increased 5% compared to the previous quarter, with the active user ratio among total subscribers reaching 60%.

A Kakao Pay official stated, "We plan to strengthen the portfolio of revenue-contributing services that can be expected to increase profitability."

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