Kakao Surpasses 2 Trillion Won in Q2 Revenue... Operating Profit Drops 34% (Update)

Q2 Consolidated Sales 2.0425 Trillion KRW... Operating Profit 113.5 Billion KRW

Kakao surpassed 2 trillion won in sales in the second quarter of this year, but operating profit declined. This was due to increased cost burdens such as infrastructure investments.

On the 3rd, Kakao announced that its sales in the second quarter of this year reached 2.0425 trillion won, a 12% increase compared to the same period last year. This is the first time quarterly sales have exceeded 2 trillion won. Operating profit recorded 113.5 billion won, down 34%.

Kakao Q2 Earnings
[Photo by Kakao]

Looking at sales by division, the platform division recorded 988.7 billion won, a 6% increase compared to the same period last year.

Talk Biz sales increased by 11% to 503 billion won. Among Talk Biz sales, advertising-type sales such as Biz Board and KakaoTalk Channel grew by 4%, and transaction-type sales such as Gift and Talk Store increased by 21%. On the other hand, portal biz sales decreased by 13% to 89.5 billion won. Platform other sales were recorded at 396.3 billion won, up 6%, influenced by balanced growth across all Kakao Mobility business divisions and an increase in Kakao Pay’s overseas payment transaction volume.

Content division sales increased by 18% compared to the same period last year to 1.0538 trillion won. Story sales recorded 231 billion won, a 1% increase due to growth in transactions in Japan and North America. Music sales surged 130% to 480.7 billion won, while media sales decreased by 38% to 73.5 billion won. Game sales fell 20% to 268.6 billion won.

Operating expenses rose 17% compared to the same period last year to 1.929 trillion won. This was due to investments in artificial intelligence (AI) related infrastructure, data center diversification, and consolidation of affiliated companies.

Meanwhile, the KakaoTalk Open Chat tab has become a space visited daily by over 10 million users, and the Friends tab by over 30 million users, with user dwell time also increasing significantly. Kakao is strengthening the infrastructure to provide stable services while laying the foundation for KakaoTalk’s growth. Additionally, it plans to continue investing in future growth engines such as AI and healthcare.

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