Naver and Kakao will enter the new representative system side by side from next year. Both companies contain the will to cut off internal and external controversies and start anew with a young leader.
The keyword ‘global’ was chosen in common by Naver, who had a blood transfusion from the legal profession, who was good at global M&A, and Kakao, who chose pure blood. Attention is paid to the leadership that the representatives of the two companies will show in difficult times such as platform regulations and intensifying market conditions.
According to related industry sources on the 26th, Kakao held a board of directors meeting on the 25th and appointed Yeo Min-soo, co-CEO, and Ryu Young-joon, Kakao Pay CEO, as new CEOs. Co-CEO Soo-yong Cho will step down when his term ends next year, as he has no intention of reappointing. Co-CEO Yeo Min-soo will lead Kakao once again with nominee Ryu Young-joon.
At the board of directors held on the 19th, Naver appointed Choi Su-yeon as its next CEO. Nam-seon Kim, responsible for global mergers and acquisitions, has been appointed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). CEO Han Seong-sook resigned with one year remaining in office.
The developer-turned-representative is the first…
Kakao plans to fulfill its social responsibility by solving issues such as expansion of the octopus food business and infringement of alleyways that have been pointed out externally in the past, along with CEO Yeo Min-soo.
CEO Yeo has been leading Kakao with CEO Jo Su-yong since 2018, demonstrating the company’s growth potential. By securing a proper profit model based on KakaoTalk, both sales and operating profit increased significantly. Based on this stable growth, there is hope that CEO Yeo will be able to take the lead in social responsibility and win-win by synthesizing the opinions of the Kakao community.
Nominee Ryu can be said to be a Kakao talent who joined Kakao as a developer in 2011 and served as a representative of an affiliate. He led the development of Voice Talk and Kakao Easy Payment, and led to the IPO of Kakao Pay. It is evaluated that they have a high understanding of Kakao service and know Kakao culture better than anyone else. In addition, while working at Kakao for 10 years, he is the longest-serving representative among Kakao affiliates, and is known to have strong internal trust.
In the future, Kakao plans to actively target the global market with these two CEOs, centering on technology and innovation. Showing Kakao’s DNA of ‘challenge’, he also hinted that he would return to the beginning by demonstrating the startup spirit.
keep going on your way…Naver, a global expert in new leadership
The new face of Naver is Choi Soo-yeon, the global business support department head. After graduating from Seoul National University and joining Naver in 2005, she returned to Naver after building careers at law school and law firms.
Naver explained that the nominee Choi highly appreciated the problem-solving ability and the direction of the company’s global business. It is the belief that nominee Choi, who has a high understanding of the global market, will be able to struggle to preoccupy the global market together with another global M&A expert, Nam-seon Kim, nominee for chief financial officer (CFO).
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The two nominees first start a TF for management renewal and are involved in building new leadership and reorganizing the organizational system to improve the organizational culture. As it is an important time, it is the will to establish a new organizational culture and solve it in a short time.
An industry official said, “Naver has appointed a representative to maintain and lead the current direction, and Kakao is expressing its will to innovate again through the developer representative.” said
