[경제][인터뷰투데이] Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-soo, who unveils plans for a 5 trillion won “big donation,” background?

■ Progress: Anchor Jaeyoon Lee, Anchor Seungmin Lee
■ Cast: Jung Cheoljin / Economic Critic

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

[앵커]

Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-soo, the founder of Kakao, announced his plan to donate. It also contained a message asking people to put out about 5 trillion won, which is half of their wealth, to society and use it to solve social problems. Interested in the background of the decision. There is an economic critic Jung Cheol-jin. Hello?

There are no people who don’t know Kakao. Kakao Board Chairman Kim Beom-soo seems to have some people who do not know well. First, please explain who this person is.

[정철진]

It can be seen as the foundation stone of almost the first generation of Korean venture industry. It was the cornerstone of the 86th grade in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Seoul National University. I graduated, and in 1998, Hangame, right at that time, and poker came out like this, but I started Hangame. In 2000, when Hangame was attached to Naver, that is, M&A with Naver led to a truly win-win strategy.

Here, he is also the chairman of NHNL, and then he is also the representative, and then suddenly goes to the United States. Then, after returning to Korea in 2009, I started making Kakao a current company through an SNS messenger called Kakao Talk. In 2014, as you can see on the screen, the portal site Daum was acquired again, and it can be said that it is the official of Kakao Talk, Daum, SNS, portal, and Big Tech. It can be seen that it has grown into a group that has the basic formula, but it has a very good reputation as a success of the soil spoon, the CEO of the soil spoon, and the founder of the soil spoon.

I talked about it several times, and out of the five siblings, the house was so poor that I was the only one who went to college. And it can be said that he is such a well-established person who started with the basic framework of a venture, a dark factory, and even made big tech.

[앵커]

You say your fortune is about 10 trillion, but you said you’re paying half of that.

[정철진]

First of all, except for real estate, etc. It is usually evaluated by the equity value, but currently Chairman Kim Bum-soo owns about 13.7% of Kakao. But it’s not just this because K-Cube Holdings also owns an 11% stake in Kakao. However, K Cube Holdings is 100% owned by Chairman Beomsoo Kim.

So, as a result, in the big picture, Chairman Kim owns almost 25% of Kakao, which can be seen like this, but this is more than 1,210 trillion in market price yesterday. If so, he said he would donate half, so it was about 5 trillion won, 5 trillion 700 billion won, 5 600 trillion won. It’s a bit of a calculation, but if you look at it as an amount of 5 trillion won, it’s a promise of a huge donation.

[앵커]

In terms of market price, it is 10 trillion won, but it may increase in the future. Because the corporate value goes up.

[정철진]

It could be reduced.

[앵커]

Anyway, donating half of your fortune is not an easy task. How did you explain the background during the announcement?

[정철진]

First of all, I think there was an intention to donate once last year. Isn’t KakaoTalk 10 years old last year? Since I started in 2010, I was trying to convey a message at that time, but in fact, I was sending a message today because there were various circumstances such as Corona 19.

Basically, isn’t it that big tech increases corporate value in communication with the public and, strictly speaking, by the power of the public? So, there were always a lot of messages that Chairman Kim Bum-soo was ready to give back everything back to society. At this level, this is the New Year’s message and the employee’s New Year’s message sent to employees.

This is not simply a comment, but soon I will fully formalize it through such things as a donation pledge, but you will need to think about the method. Because selling this stock on the market has a huge impact. Such concerns, such as giving back to society through various methods, will be announced soon.

[앵커]

But in fact, people who know Chairman Kim Beom-soo have decided to donate this largely this time, but they have been making large and small donations steadily, and they talked a lot like this.

[정철진]

If you look at the news in the past, it appears that you have made a lot of donations. Some donated in cash. There are some donations in stock and other things that have been bypassed through the foundation. Almost cumulatively, more than 22 billion won has been donated since 2007.

Last year, it is known that they donated 2 billion won in cash in relation to Corona 19, so it is not surprising that people who are close and acquainted have done what they originally promised, and this reaction comes out with this response. There is.

[앵커]

As you mentioned earlier, most of your fortune is stocks. How will this be enforced in the future?

[정철진]

Some kind of foundation is probably parking a certain amount. Will there be dividends? You can think of such a way as to grow a youth venture through the dividend. Anyway, there are various ways, but I will continue to tell you, but half is not just a word.

Since I commented correctly and I will be writing a pledge soon, I am thinking that in the big frame, I would not return half of my fortune, 5 trillion won, to society in any way.

[앵커]

Chairman Kim Bum-soo is known to be the stock-rich after Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo in Korea. In fact, it is not easy to decide to donate such a large amount of money. ?

[정철진]

Despite that, since there is a lot of difference in the amount of money, I am more focused and surprised, and I am talking about expressing reactions to it, but as I just said, Chairman Kim Bum-soo is currently in the 3rd place by stock sign. So, among the viewers, I wouldn’t do it, Jaeyong Lee, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics. It is third after Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo.

because? By the way, the share price of Kakao has almost surged since Corona 19, and the value of the stake has also increased. It was 800 billion units.

At that time, Hyundai Motor Group’s honorary chairman Chung Mong-koo amounted to 850 billion won through the foundation. Chairman Lee Kun-hee and Samsung Group were about 810 billion won. By the way, this time around 5 trillion won, isn’t it completely different in scale and size? So it seems that it is becoming more talker.

[앵커]

Mostly, it is said that large corporations donate like this through the foundation. In the case of Chairman Kim Bum-soo, what had been controversial a while ago became a topic of donating stocks worth 50 billion won to children, right?

[정철진]

Yes. So, if you look at the articles all the time, these issues are raised at the bottom, but the story is like this. As mentioned earlier, a place called K Cube Holdings, where Chairman Bum-soo Kim currently owns the entire stake, and this is the two-share shareholder who owns shares in Kakao. I have about 11%, but what I just mentioned is that I donated a part of this K Cube Holdings stake, my children and relatives. The overall amount was 145 billion.

Think about it, about 50 billion won to your children. This K Cube Holdings is Kakao’s second largest shareholder anyway. By the way, the 1st shareholder is Chairman Kim Bum-soo. Then, this is not a holding company without knowing it? However, donating a certain portion of the holding company to relatives as a result of the fact that Chairman Kim Bum-soo has told her sister that there is no such thing as inheritance or succession of management rights. . Then, there were suspicions about whether there was room for interference or intervention in management rights indirectly.

At that moment, another 5 trillion won donation came out, so isn’t this trying to divert attention? There is also this point. As I keep telling you now, Chairman Kim Bum-soo wasn’t in a dimension like taking over management rights or inheriting his children. It is said that giving K-Cube worth 140 billion won to relatives was an expression of gratitude for the past and these things, so you probably have a lot of eyes these days.

I did this in the first place, but I have grown up with a dirt spoon, but do I take over management rights to my children? I do not know. It is also a portal. It’s not manufacturing or anything like this. If it’s such a dimension, I think we should watch it a little more.

[앵커]

And, in fact, if you said you would make a donation like this, but if you don’t keep the promise, it will hurt your corporate image and the stock value will drop.

[정철진]

Yes. Isn’t Kakao a company that makes what? That’s why I think that the part of promise and communication is very important, and Chairman Kim Bum-soo knows more well.