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| Kakao CEO Namkoong Whon / Courtesy of Kakao |
By Kim Hyun-bin
Kakao Corp., the operator of Korea's top mobile messenger, KakaoTalk, plans to generate 10 trillion won ($7.9 billion) in transactions via its various commerce channels this year by creating synergy, the company CEO said on Wednesday.
"As mentioned in the previous earnings announcement, this year, we aim to create synergy between various commerce services in Kakao and activate interactions between advertisements and commerce to achieve annual total transactions of 10 trillion won." Kakao CEO Namkoong Whon said during a conference call.
"In the first quarter of this year, the total combined transactions of the existing commerce represented by gift giving, Talk Store, and Makers, as well as new services ZigZag and Grip Company, reached 2.3 trillion won, a 32-percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year," he said.
With the rising trend, Namkoong showed confidence that the company's stock price will make a turnaround.
Kakao reached 173,000 won in June of last year and lost half its value to 89,000 won, before rising 0.56 percent at market close on Wednesday.
"I believe that Kakao's corporate value can recover to more than 150,000 won if the KakaoTalk service reorganization and global expansion begin to show," he said.
Kakao's first-quarter net profit jumped by more than fivefold from a year earlier, due to gains from the disposal of its stocks in Dunamu, a local crypto exchange operator.
Net income reached 1.32 trillion won in the first quarter, compared with 239.8 billion won the previous year. Operating profit for the cited period came to 158.7 billion won and sales rose 31.3 percent on-year to 1.65 trillion won.
Kakao attributed the surge in profits to the disposals of its shares in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Kakao was one of the major investors of Dunamu in the early stages of its founding, and it once held a 43-percent stake in the operator. Kakao currently holds a 10.88-percent stake in Dunamu.
As for the first-quarter performance, solid growth in both Kakao's platform and content aided its solid figures.
Kakao recorded 886 billion won in sales from the platform business, which includes its e-commerce platform, Talk Biz, up 27 percent from a year ago. Revenue from its content businesses, including Kakao Games, digital comics, music and others, also grew 36 percent on-year to 765.7 billion won.
