KaKao

- Internal Director Shina Chung’s reappointment approved at shareholders’ meeting on March 26, two-year term to run through 2028

- Chung led Kakao to record-high revenue in 2025 by streamlining governance and strengthening core business operations

- Company to shift strategic gears toward accelerated growth, tapping into accumulated momentum

- Shareholders approve all original agendas, including financial statements, appointment of external directors, and amendments to business objectives

 

[March 26, 2026] Kakao announced that the agenda to reappoint Shina Chung as an internal director was approved at the 31st annual general meeting of shareholders, held on March 26 at the company’s headquarters in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. Following a subsequent board meeting, Chung was formally confirmed as CEO and will lead Kakao through March 2028.

 

Since taking office in March 2024, Chung has focused on restructuring the group and enhancing governance to strengthen the company’s fundamentals. By realigning capabilities around core businesses to support sustainable growth, she has reinforced operational efficiency. These efforts delivered transformative financial results in 2025, with Kakao surpassing KRW 8 trillion in consolidated annual revenue for the first time since its founding and achieving a record-high operating profit.

 

Building on this accumulated momentum, Kakao is shifting its management focus toward its key future growth engines: AI and the KakaoTalk platform. In AI, Kakao tapped into user touchpoints established last year through “Kanana in KakaoTalk” and “ChatGPT for Kakao.” With this approach, the company plans to significantly expand its services for users to experience greater everyday convenience through AI agents.

 

In particular, Kakao aims to integrate a wide range of external partners into its AI ecosystem by year-end through PlayMCP and AI Agent Builder. By enabling specialized AI agents to collaborate seamlessly in solving tasks, the company seeks to reduce user effort and enrich daily life.

 

KakaoTalk, the company’s core asset, is also demonstrating meaningful gains, including a rebound in average daily retention time. Having identified AI services as a key driver of user engagement, Kakao aims to increase this index by 20%, which is expected to drive structural improvements in its Talk Biz segment.

 

Kakao plans to share the outcomes of this growth with shareholders while enhancing shareholder value and public trust. To expand distributable profits, the company will reduce its capital surplus by KRW 100 billion and increase total dividends by 10% year over year. Furthermore, Kakao is scheduled to retire more than half of its treasury shares. Senior management is also reinforcing shareholder-focused accountability by actively purchasing Kakao shares.

 

CEO Shina Chung stated, “We have set targets of achieving more than 10% growth in consolidated revenue and a 10% operating margin in 2026,” she added, “During my term, we will continue to deliver improvements in short-term performance. At the same time, we will ensure that the growth potential expected by our shareholders translates into tangible results.”

 

Meanwhile, all agenda items aimed at strengthening governance expertise and enhancing shareholder value were approved as originally proposed at the shareholders’ meeting. Kyung-jin Cha, Professor at the Department of Business Informatics at Hanyang University, was reappointed as an external director, along with the newly appointed Young-jun Kim, Professor at the Graduate School of Management of Technology at Korea University. With these appointments, Kakao’s Board of Directors now consists of six members: internal directors Shina Chung and Jonghwan Shin, and external directors Choon-seung Ham, Kyung-jin Cha, Seon-wook Kim, and Young-jun Kim. (E.O.D.)