To-be Kakao CEO to meet with employees ahead of company revamp

To restore the crisis-hit Kakao, Chung Shin-a, the tech giant's to-be new CEO, is scheduled to meet with 1,000 employees of different ranks across the board for discussions in January.

Kakao's new CEO Chung Shin-a speaks with the press after emergency management meeting held in Kakao's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 18. [YONHAP]

To restore the crisis-hit Kakao, Chung Shin-a, the tech giant's to-be new CEO, is scheduled to meet with 1,000 employees of different ranks across the board for discussions in January.

Before Chung’s formal appointment as the new boss after the general shareholders’ meeting in March, she is heading the task force that was created to revamp the company’s management and establish new business objectives.

Chung had reportedly announced within the company that she will “personally meet 1,000 Kakao employees to objectively hear out the company’s voices.”

The employees will be divided into groups to talk to the new head about different topics such as future sustainability, governance and corporate culture. Kakao founder Kim Beom-su is also expected to participate “as much as he can,” Chung said.

After the announcement of Chung’s appointment on Dec. 13, Chung attended the annual year-end corporate event held in Kakao’s headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, and said that one of her objectives as the new CEO will be to strengthen the company's inner communication.

Kim also made a similar promise on Dec. 11 at the corporate conference he held for the first time in three years.

Chung is targeting a serious corporate makeover for her company, which is currently knee-deep in a myriad of scandals related to inner friction and alleged stock manipulation during its attempt to takeover K-pop agency SM Entertainment.

Prosecutors are investigating Kakao and its top executives regarding the stock manipulation. In September, a Kakao executive misappropriated 100 million won ($75,000) from their company card to purchase personal gaming items.

Kakao's new CEO Chung Shin-a [KAKAO]

Kakao’s ride-hailing affiliate Kakao Mobility is being investigated by state regulators such as the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) over alleged revenue miscalculation and manipulating the ride dispatch algorithm to favor certain drivers.

In the midst of the fiasco, another Kakao executive, Kim Jeong-ho, came forward in November on his Facebook account to blast the company’s internal frictions and opaque decision-making processes. Kim was appointed by the founder himself to head the management support at Kakao’s Corporate Alignment council for corporate reform.

Chung's vow is not the first time for a Kakao head to meet their employees face-to-face. Kakao’s former CEO Namkoong Whon also met up with 100 employees who signed up to freely talk about company management, before he was officially appointed in March 2022.

Chung took the same idea and grew it tenfold, which will see her meet more than a quarter of Kakao’s entire workforce of 3,713, according to data from June.

Chung had met with the press at its headquarters after an emergency management meeting on Dec. 18 to comment that “Kakao does not have have much time” and that she will not “lose the momentum to revamp the company within the given time,” leading some to believe that the increased scale could imply that Kakao’s internal troubles are greater than expected.

Terms of the CEOs of Kakao subsidiaries will mostly end by the first half of next year, such as for Kakao Mobility, Kakao Pay and Kakao Games. The IT industry believes that there is a high possibility for a company overhaul regarding its human resources, led by Chung and founder Kim. Executives of Kakao Entertainment, currently under investigation related to alleged stock manipulation, may also be replaced.

BY YOUN SANG-UN [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]