150 billion won money cushion Ryu Young-joon rises to head of Kakao after 10 years of joining IT cafe Kang Kyung-ju

Kakao, a conglomerate with a market capitalization of 57 trillion won on the KOSPI, has replaced the CEO. Although the existing two-top system with co-representative Yeo Min-soo was maintained, it is evaluated that the developer was appointed as a co-representative for the first time to put technological importance to the forefront of the group. It is predicted that Kakao’s various business synergies will become more active with the addition of a new CEO with extensive practical experience.

Min-soo Yeo and Young-jun Ryu, co-representatives, officially appointed in March next year

According to the information technology (IT) industry on the 27th, Kakao held a board meeting on the 25th and appointed Hyun Min-soo Yeo and Young-joon Ryu, CEO of Kakao Pay as co-representatives. The two will be appointed as official representatives through a general meeting of shareholders and the board of directors in March next year.

After being appointed as CEO of Kakao for the first time in March 2018, Yeo will be reappointed for the second time following last year. This means that KakaoTalk, which stayed as a messenger, was recognized for its achievements in leading it into a ‘money making platform’. Kakao recorded the highest sales of 1.74 trillion won in the third quarter of this year based on the performance-based advertising system ‘Bizboard’. It even surpassed Naver in sales for the first time since its establishment.

Kakao announced that it had held a board meeting on the 25th and reported that Kakao CEO Min-soo Yeo (right) and Kakao Pay CEO Ryu Young-joon were appointed as co-representatives. 2021.11.25
[사진=카카오 제공]

Ryu is a young developer in his 40s who joined Kakao in 2011. He led the development of VoiceTalk as well as the IPO of Kakao Pay, the first simple payment service in Korea. They have a high understanding of Kakao’s corporate culture and services, and are expected to lead Kakao’s global leap based on the successful experience of Kakao Pay. CEO Jo Su-yong, who had been co-representative with the female CEO, said he had no intention of reappointing. Cho will serve his term until March of next year.

Ryu Young-jun joined Kakao in 2011 and became the group’s representative for the first time in 10 years.

CEO Ryu joined Kakao in 2011 as a developer and has since risen to the position of CEO. He has been interested in programming since childhood, and majored in computer science (Bachelor) and Information and Communication Sciences (Master) at Konkuk University.

He set the direction of his life when the dot-com bubble burst. At that time, CEO Ryu set the belief that “IT technology can make a better world” as his goal in life and predicted that changes after the dot-com bubble would start with ‘mobile’. Eventually, he changed his career to ‘mobile’.

My first social life started as a small mobile service startup. After that, CEO Ryu, who moved to Samsung SDS to experience the corporate culture of a large company, saw the ‘future platform’ in ‘Kakao Talk’, which appeared along with the domestic release of the iPhone in 2009.

After leaving a stable job and joining Kakao in 2011, CEO Ryu led the development of KakaoTalk-based free call service ‘Voice Talk’. At the time when telecommunication companies’ rate plans were based on free call time, Voice Talk, which provides free domestic and foreign voice calls through data, was an innovation.

Kakao Pay CEO Young-Jun Ryu plays a drum at the KOSPI new listing ceremony held at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, Seoul on the 3rd. 2021.11.3 [사진=연합뉴스]

However, Voicetalk’s success was soon put to the test. This is because the telecommunication industry is reacting against the free calling platform by limiting the data transmission speed of VoiceTalk.

Although data-based pricing has become common through social consensus, CEO Ryu realized through his experience at the time that “before changing the world with technology, coordination with stakeholders must come first.” With this as an opportunity, he took on the second challenge of moving his job to ‘business’ rather than ‘development’. Broadening the stride from a developer to a ‘businessman’.

As a businessman, what caught his eye was ‘finance’. It was a time when mobile commerce transaction volume broke new records every month along with mobile growth. However, CEO Ryu judged that the pace of development of the financial market was slow. Just six years ago, to pay online, you had to input a lot of information across 18 screens, and the failure rate was as high as the inconvenient process.

Ryu, who served as the head of the Kakao Payment business division, decided that the innovation of mobile payment was an opportunity and started developing a simple payment system. Kim Bum-soo, chairman of Kakao’s board of directors, supported him when he was questioning the success of the business in various places.

Overcoming conflict with telecommunication and financial industry to introduce Kakao Pay

Officials taking a commemorative photo after the ceremony to commemorate Kakao Pay’s new listing on the KOSPI held at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, Seoul on the 3rd. From left, Song Young-hoon, Deputy Head of the Korea Exchange Securities Market Division, Ahn Sang-hwan, Chairman of the Korea IR Council, Jeong Hyung-jin, Goldman Sachs Seoul Branch Korea Representative, Lim Jae-joon, Korea Exchange Stock Market Head, Sohn Byung-doo, Korea Exchange Chairman Ryu Young-joon, Kakao Pay CEO Joo-won Kim, Kakao Vice Chairman Jang Seok-hoon, Samsung Securities President Park Tae-jin, JP Morgan Securities Korea General Representative, Jung Woo-yong, Vice Chairman of Policy at Korea Listed Companies Association. 2021.11.3 [사진=연합뉴스]

After several months, a prototype (prototype) of a simple payment service was created that allows convenient payment with a six-digit password without an official certificate. However, in the commercialization stage, it ran into a wall in the existing market. CEO Ryu, who visited financial companies and supervisory authorities every day, received approval for the business license after about a year and a half. At that time, CEO Ryu was evaluated as a person who overcame conflict twice and achieved innovation in the telecommunication and financial industries, which are representative industries with strong vested interests.

Kakao Pay, which started its service in September 2014, drew attention as the first simple payment service in Korea. In January 2017, it was spun off from Kakao as an independent corporation. expanded the business area. In the end, he successfully debuted in the stock market last November.

In the process, CEO Ryu sat down on a ‘don cushion’. CEO Ryu’s stock options (stock options) are the largest among Kakao affiliates, with a total of 712,030 shares. The exercise price per share is 5,000 won. This is equivalent to 150 billion won. CEO Ryu can exercise most of the stock options within five years from the listing date.

As of the end of September, Kakao Pay recorded 37 million cumulative subscribers and 20 million monthly active users (MAU), growing into a domestic mobile financial platform in name and reality. The accumulated transaction amount in the third quarter of this year reached 72.5 trillion won.

Young-Jun Ryu, CEO of Kakao Pay, holding an online IPO press conference [사진=카카오페이 제공]

Ryu, who has been developing and operating payment services for 10 years, has become the new head of Kakao and is preparing for the next 10 years of Kakao together. CEO Ryu said, “I feel a heavy sense of responsibility as it is an important time to draw Kakao’s ‘next decade’ with the challenge of growing socially responsible. There is also excitement for new challenges.” We will do our best to help the company grow even bigger.”

Kakao put CEO Ryu at the forefront and foreshadowed innovation, while maintaining a balance by reappointing CEO Ryu. It is evaluated that Kakao’s will to fulfill its social responsibility as well as growth is reflected. In fact, the industry is expecting synergy between the two co-representatives in carrying out Kakao’s task of coexistence and globalization. A female CEO, who has a good sense of political affairs, both internally and externally, manages risks, and a young CEO, Ryu, discovers new businesses. A Kakao official said, “CEO Ryu’s abilities and technical sense will be grafted into global business,” and “I have high expectations for Brian (Chairman Kim Bum-soo).”

By Kang Kyung-joo, reporter at Hankyung.com qurasoha@hankyung.com