Kakao ambiguous on sale rumor on Kakao Mobility amid employee protest

[Photo by Yonhap]

Kakao leadership meeting with union representatives stayed ambiguous to the speculation on the platform giant planning to sell Kakao Mobility, according to the union.

Representatives from Kakao¡¯s labor union on Monday met with Kim Sung-soo, board chief at Kakao who doubles as the head of Corporate Alignment Center, and Chief Investment Officer Bae Jae-hyun to verify rumors on Kakao Mobility.

The union said they did not receive clear denial from the management who reiterated that nothing has been finalized.

A rumor has been circulating around that Kakao is in talks with private equity firm MBK Partners to sell its stake in transportation service platform Kakao Mobility. It has intensified after Ryu Gung-seon, head of Kakao Mobility told employees that there has been a discussion on selling the company during internal conference on June 17.

Kakao¡¯s labor union began taking collective action on June 24 while gathering employee signatures to a petition opposing to the scheme.

The union was to hold a press conference on the meeting results on Tuesday afternoon but put it off due to lack of details.

Kakao Mobility, spun off from parent Kakao in 2017, is a mobile platform providing a wide range of transportation related services, from taxi hailing to car navigation and parking. Its enterprise value was estimated at 8.5 trillion won ($6.6 billion) in recent fundraising round.

The listing of Kakao Mobility has been put off due to crashes in the shares of Kakao family.

Kakao has lost sharply in a year, trading around 70,900 won ($55.15) on Tuesday, less than half of its 52-week high of 165,500 won.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]