Kakao's Kim Beom-su: "Reviewing All Businesses... Will Deliver Visible Results by Year-End"

Kim Beom-su, former chairman of Kakao, is appearing at the Financial Supervisory Service on the 23rd to be investigated regarding allegations of stock price manipulation related to the acquisition of SM Entertainment. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Kim Beom-su, founder of Kakao and head of the Future Initiative Center, stated on the 13th, "We will do our best to become a new Kakao."

Kim made this remark while attending the 3rd Community Emergency Management Meeting held at 6:40 a.m. at Kakao Mobility headquarters in Alphadom Tower, Baekhyeon-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province.

He said, "As the founder of Kakao, I am deeply accepting the criticism from many people," and added, "We will undergo rapid reform under external control through the Compliance and Trust Committee and the Management Innovation Committee, and do our best so that Kakao, which has been loved by the public, can become a new Kakao."

Regarding the timeline for the reform goals, he said, "We will present visible plans within this year and work hard to make many things happen next year, so please watch closely."

When asked about plans for management personnel reform, he briefly replied, "That is included in all of this."

On this day, along with Kim Beom-su, key representatives of Kakao’s major affiliates attended the 3rd management meeting, including Hong Eun-taek, CEO of Kakao; Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility; and Lee Jin-su, CEO of Kakao Entertainment.

Kakao is facing judicial risks over allegations of market manipulation during the acquisition process of SM Entertainment (SM). Key executives were sent to the prosecution on charges of market manipulation related to SM, and Kim also underwent a high-intensity investigation by the Financial Supervisory Service’s special investigation team.

In response, on the 30th of last month, Kim Beom-su held the first community management meeting attended by major affiliate representatives and announced plans to launch a Compliance and Trust Committee under external control. The community management meetings are held every Monday.

Meanwhile, the reason Kakao moved the venue of the 3rd meeting from the Kakao Pangyo Ajit, where the 1st and 2nd meetings were held, to Kakao Mobility appears to be due to President Yoon Seok-yeol’s recent public criticism of Kakao Taxi. Since the president unusually singled out a specific company, the founder intends to personally show a willingness to resolve related issues.

On the same day at 2 p.m., Kakao Mobility will hold a closed-door meeting with four taxi organizations (National Taxi Labor Union Federation, National Democratic Taxi Labor Union Federation, National Private Taxi Transport Business Association Federation, and National Taxi Transport Business Association Federation) at the National Taxi Federation Hall in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. At 5 p.m., there will be a meeting with the Kakao Taxi franchise council.

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