Kim Bum Soo

Kakao corporation is a South Korean internet company providing services like messaging, advertising, music, and e-commerce. The firm was established 12 years ago in 2010 by Brian Kim headquartered in Jeju City, South Korea. Presently, It is managed by Co-CEOs Manson Yeo and Sean Joh. The Firm achieved a 4.16 trillion South Korean Won (2020). Currently, it is competing for the Number 1 Position with Naver in the Japanese web novel and comic market.

Founding Of Company

Kakao corporation is the company after Kakao Talk serving as its primary platform and flagship application founded by Kim Bum-Soo in 2006. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Three of App Annie’s Global top 10 android apps were bound up with Kakao Talk in august 2013, which were Everybody’s Marble, Ani pang, and Cookie Run. Some games played on its platforms, such as Dragon Flight and Ani Pang, were named National Games. Some key people were Brian Kim, Stephen Kim, and Namkoong When. It’s a versatile corporation providing services in different industries such as entertainment, fashion, finance, transportation, community services, and investment.

Mergers

The Corporation decided to merge with Daum Corporation, one of Korea’s top Internet portals, using a stock swap in May 2014 to compete with South Korea’s biggest portal, Navier, and was renamed Daum Kakao, which was changed back in 2015. The firm’s board of directors replaced CEO Kim-Beom-Soo with Rim Ji-Hoon.

New Business Model

Kakao corporation introduced its KakaoTaxi service on March 10, 2015, which allows users to call a taxi using the Kakao Taxi app. Different taxi companies supported the Kakao taxi service, and approximately six lakh taxi- users booked their rides with this application just eight months after the launch.

Revenue

Having 93 % of the South Korean population on Kakao Talk, it made a revenue of approximately 200 USD with gaming, mobile commerce, digital content, and marketing channels, becoming the world’s third top publisher at google play in 2013.

Achievements

Kakao Corporation was acknowledged as an elite developer on Google’s Android Market, and its flagship application KakaoTalk was selected as the number one Free messaging App by Cnet. It became the World’s Top publisher on Google Play in December 2013. Presently, it is the No. 1 publisher for Google Play and iOS in South Korea, and KakaoTalk is the Number 1 application for Google Play and iOS platforms in South Korea. In 2014, It was chosen for the Most Innovative Mobile App Award at Global Mobile Awards.

Subsidiaries

Its renowned subsidiaries are:

• Kakao games
• Kakao entertainment
• Kakao mobility
• Kakao friends
• Lycos Inc.

Founder – Kim Beom-Soo

Kim-Boem-Soo, also called Brian Kim, born on 8 March 1996, is a Korean Billionaire Entrepreneur, chairman, and founder of Kakao corporation. He grew up in Seoul, and his grandmother did his upbringing, and he holds a BSc and MSc degree in engineering from Seoul National University. He joined Samsung as a developer. Kim started Hangame as an internet cafe business in 1998 which became Korea’s first online gaming platform. He also worked in NHN corporation as a representative until 2007. He was worth 11.2 billion USD by Forbes in 2021.

Chief Executive Officer – Namkoong Whon

He worked on finding new growth engines for the corporation and worked as Chief executive officer at Kakao corporation’s new organization. He holds a degree from Sogang University. He was also an early founding member who led the firm through a difficult time and contributed much to making it a success.