Kakao’s second largest shareholder, 100% owned by Chairman Kim
The interpretation of “succession work” seems to be empowering
Kakao’s side clarified “has nothing to do with succession”
Beomsoo Kim Founder of Kakao and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Cacao offer
Founder Kim Bum-soo and Chairman of the Board of Directors recently donated 140 billion won worth of stock to relatives, including two children.While interest in the background is drawing attention, the fact that Chairman Kim’s two children (son and daughter) are working for K Cube Holdings, a privately held company that is evaluated as a holding company of Kakao. <한겨레> The interview result was confirmed. K Cube Holdings is the second largest shareholder of Kakao and a 100% stake by Chairman Kim, and it is expected that the interpretation that the donation of shares to the two children is intertwined with management classes with succession in mind. .
On the 24th, Kakao officials relate to Kim’s son Sang-bin (born in 1993) and daughter Ye-bin (born in 1995). <한겨레>“I have been working for K Cube Holdings since about a year ago,” he said. Regarding the position and position of the two children, this official said, “We do not have a position internally. We can’t confirm the position,” he added. Previously, on the 19th, Kakao drew a line in the interpretation that related to the succession work, saying that when Chairman Kim donated 60,000 shares (worth 26.2 billion won) to his two children on the 19th, Chairman Kim’s children do not work for the company and affiliates. Kakao side is also on this day <한겨레>“It has nothing to do with succession for children to work at K Cube Holdings.”
Currently, the overall governance structure of large corporate group Kakao is that Chairman Kim and K Cube Holdings are Kakao’s first and second shareholders, respectively, and control over 100 affiliates. After this donation, Kakao’s own stake in Chairman Kim is 13.74%, K Cube Holdings’ stake is 11.21%, and Kakao’s share of the two combined is 24.95%. According to the announcement of the Fair Trade Commission in May 2020, as of the end of 2019, the number of K Cube Holdings employees was 5, with salary expenditure of 1.4 billion won that year. The exact timing of joining the two children has not been confirmed. An official from Kakao said, “Internally, K Cube Holdings is only known as an investment company owned by Chairman Kim,” and said, “What happens at K Cube Holdings is not shared.” The industry’s evaluation and prospects are mixed. In a phone call with an information technology company executive, he said, “Isn’t it difficult to give a gift while paying all statutory taxes transparently and to say something right away with only the children working for the father’s private company?” Another high-ranking industry official said, “It is true that it resembles the way the existing chaebols started the succession work,” he said. “As I said that I would not hand over the company to my children, Chairman Kim needs to come up and explain the background.” By Kim Jae-seop, Kim Gyeong-rak, and Choi Min-young, staff reporters [email protected]