Kakao's Kim Beom-su: "Resetting Expansion Management... Changing Strategy, Culture, and Governance"

Kim Beom-su Faces Employees After 2 Years and 10 Months
"Determined to Even Change the Mission... Redesigning from the Ground Up"

Kim Beom-su, the chairman of the management innovation committee and founder of Kakao, expressed his determination for reform by telling employees, "We must discard the inertia of the past 10 years and redesign everything from scratch."

Chairman Kim held a meeting with employees at Kakao's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, at 2 p.m. on the 11th to convey this message. This is the first time Chairman Kim has personally held such a meeting since the 10th anniversary event of the company in February 2021.

Brian Kim, founder of Kakao and chairman of the Management Innovation Committee, held an employee meeting called 'Brian Talk' on the 11th.
[Photo by Kakao]

Chairman Kim lamented, "I feel devastated by the current situation where we are criticized for 'greedily trying to make money even by coveting neighborhood businesses,'" adding, "I deeply feel that Kakao's growth model is no longer valid."

He continued, "We aimed to become a great company beyond just a good one, but now Kakao is even being doubted as a good company," and apologized sincerely as the founder, saying, "I sincerely apologize for bringing the company to this situation."

Chairman Kim emphasized that what is needed in this crisis is fundamental change. In particular, he declared that the autonomous management system of subsidiaries must be abandoned and Kakao must be reborn as a new company. He pledged, "We must also part ways with the method of driving subsidiary growth through investments, stock options, and full delegation," and added, "I am prepared to even change the company name 'Kakao' if necessary."

To this end, the expansion-focused management strategy will be reset, and the company plans to focus on technology and core businesses. All businesses will be reviewed not only from the perspective of current market dominance but also future growth engines. The focus will be on strengthening the lacking substance rather than numerical expansion and finding a direction that aligns with social trust.

He also proposed restructuring the group governance. The plan is to move away from a loose autonomous management approach and create a structure that strengthens centripetal force to accelerate the new Kakao.

The corporate culture will also be reconsidered from the ground up. Chairman Kim said, "We need to rebuild our unique culture suitable for the present and future from the beginning," adding, "Even things we have taken for granted, such as the use of English names, information sharing, and horizontal culture, need to be reviewed from scratch."

Furthermore, he announced a management reshuffle. Chairman Kim said, "We want to establish leadership that will lead the new ship, the new Kakao," and added, "Some may feel uncomfortable or sacrifices may be necessary in this process, but this journey must succeed."

Finally, Chairman Kim said, "This difficult process will someday be remembered as a stepping stone for Kakao to make a bigger leap," and urged, "Please join forces so that Kakao, which was loved in the mobile era, can once again be loved by the public and contribute to society in the artificial intelligence (AI) era."

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