Shin Won-geun, CEO of Kakao Pay, Successfully Secures De Facto Reappointment

by Choi Donghyeon

Published 22 Feb.2024 16:55(KST)

Reappointment Proposal to Be Approved at Regular General Meeting on the 25th of Next Month

Shin Won-geun, CEO of Kakao Pay, has effectively succeeded in his reappointment.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 22nd, Kakao Pay plans to approve the reappointment of CEO Shin Won-geun at the 7th regular general meeting of shareholders scheduled for the 25th of next month.

Shin, who joined Kakao Pay in 2018 as Vice President of Strategy, officially took office as CEO in March 2022 and has been leading the company since then. He has established mid- to short-term business growth strategies and led collaborations with overseas fintech companies, laying the foundation for growth.

Shin is recognized for practicing responsible management while driving steady business growth. From the early stages of the business, he envisioned a lifestyle financial platform and has been leading subsidiaries such as Kakao Pay Insurance and Kakao Pay Securities. He built a structure connecting financial areas such as loans, investments, and insurance centered on payments and remittances, which have high user frequency. Additionally, through various partnerships, he expanded payment points and increased cooperation to allow users to check multiple financial products at once.

In 2022, Shin declared that he would only receive the minimum wage until Kakao Pay's stock price reached 200,000 KRW. In fact, he received the minimum wage for two years as Kakao Pay's stock price did not surpass 200,000 KRW. He also purchased Kakao Pay shares three times.

Last year, Kakao Pay posted an operating loss of 56.6 billion KRW on a consolidated basis, a 24.3% increase in deficit compared to the previous year (-45.5 billion KRW). The net loss also turned to 25.2 billion KRW. Sales increased by 18% year-on-year to 615.4 billion KRW.