Billionaire Kakao chairman Brian Kim resigns

Kakao Corp. founder and chairman Brian Kim said on Monday that he will step down from the tech giant’s board of directors, following a series of scandals that rocked the company last year. 

The resignation will be finalized if confirmed at the upcoming shareholder meeting slated for March 29. Kim has chaired the board since 2015.

Following the last year's stock options scandal, company employees and minor shareholders of Kakao wanted the self-made billionaire to be held accountable for unsatisfactory management ethics.

In a company-wide message sent a day prior, Kim wrote that “NK will lead the group's efforts in going ‘Beyond Mobile’ and I will work on the 'Beyond Korea' global expansion plan after stepping down from the chairman post.”

NK refers to Kakao’s new CEO nominee Namkoong Whon – known as the founder’s right-hand man. 

Kim said the Beyond Korea initiative is not merely a corporate mission but also a response to calls from the South Korean public. Kakao’s rapid domestic expansion received major backlash last year. Coupled with some other issues, the operator of the country's most pervasive messenger service has been working on rebranding its image and winning back investors’ trust.

The 56-year-old will maintain his post as the head of the Mirae Initiative Center, an organization dedicated to designing the future blueprint of the Kakao Group. 

STARTING WITH JAPAN

The founder said the starting point for Beyond Korea will be the neighboring archipelago. 

“Piccoma has grown to become the world’s most lucrative webtoon platform by recruiting employees that understand the Japanese market and incorporating the reasons behind the success of Kakao Page,” Kim explained in the company-wide message sent Sunday. 

Whereas the group’s affiliates independently pursued their own global strategies before, Kakao’s Beyond Korea initiative will focus on creating synergy effects based on Japan-based webtoon platform Piccoma.

Last month, Kakao announced it plans to launch the European version of the webtoon subscription service as early as April.

Kim’s interest in the Japanese market dates back to his time at Hangame Communications when the game developer launched its Japanese subsidiary in 2000.

Hangame changed its name to NHN in Sept. 2001, which is the first iteration of what is now Naver Corp. 

Since 2017, the entrepreneur has served as Piccoma’s executive director and worked between Korea and Japan. Piccoma is the only Kakao affiliate in which Kim is serving an executive role.

BROADER RESHUFFLE

Other corporate restructuring will follow Kim's resignation. Kakao will replace three C-level executives at the upcoming board meeting.

CEO nominee Namkoong Whon and the co-heads of the Corporate Alignment Center Kim Sung-soo and Hong Eun-taek will be appointed as executive directors. 

The Corporate Alignment Center is part of Kakao’s attempts at winning back investors’ trust. The organization was launched to address criticism of a lack of control tower to oversee coordination among the group’s affiliates worldwide. 

Kim Sung-soo is the current CEO of Kakao Entertainment Co.

Under the Beyond Mobile slogan, Namkoong is expected to pursue an aggressive campaign to expand into the metaverse and blockchain industries.

During last month's online press conference, he laid out plans for two new metaverse platforms. In line with this effort, Kakao has launched two task forces named V2FT and OTF in early January. 

The 48-year-old previously worked at NHN Corp.’s US office, CJ Internet Corp. and WeMade Co. He was also a founding member of Hangame Communications established in 1999.

The Corporate Alignment Center co-heads Kim and Hong will focus on re-directing the group's social responsibilities and strategic itinerary to match with the overarching Beyond Korea and Beyond Mobile initiatives. 

The global tech giant’s subsidiaries and affiliates include Kakao Games Corp. KakaoBank Corp. and Kakao Pay Corp.

Kakao’s biggest rival Naver Corp. also saw a leadership shake-up Monday. 

During Monday’s shareholder meeting held in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, the company’s board of directors confirmed its CEO Choi Soo-yeon as an executive director. 

The 40-year-old was named to lead South Korea’s top online platform Last Nov. in the most dramatic top management reshuffle ever in its 22-year history. 

(Updated with details on global strategy and broader corporate restructure) 

Write to Joo-Wan Kim, Min-Ki Koo at kjwan@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.