Official declaration of half-donation of wealth through new year’s address for internal employees
Presentation after controversy over management succession
Kakao “Return of property is a long belief, preparing from last year”
【Today News Reporter Park Joo-hwan】 Kakao’s largest shareholder, Kim Beom-soo, announced a plan to donate more than half of his assets, and attention is focused on the background. As Chairman Kim has always revealed his will to give back to society, the evaluation that his beliefs are reflected mainly, but some people have announced a donation plan after the controversy over the management succession of their children arose, and the back story comes out from the point of time.
According to industry sources on the 10th, Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-soo said in a New Year’s KakaoTalk message sent to employees under the name of’Brian’ on the 8th that he would sequentially donate more than half of his assets to solve social problems.
Chairman Kim said, “In the turbulent time, as I witnessed the deepening of social problems in various fields, I felt that I should not delay my resolution any more.” “I pledged to donate more than half of my assets to solve social problems while living in the future. I was able to do it.”
He added, “We are also pursuing an appropriate donation pledge so that the pledge can become an official promise.” “We are starting to think about how to use it specifically, but Kakao will find and support people to solve social problems in areas that are difficult to access. Thought” he added.
Currently, Chairman Kim’s wealth is estimated to be over 10 trillion won, including 12.5 million shares of Kakao shares he owns and 9.94 million shares owned by his private company K Cube Holdings. If the promise to give back more than half of them to society is kept, a total donation of over 5 trillion won is expected to be made. This is an unprecedented amount of donation in the domestic business community.
Although the specific donation method has not yet been disclosed, various theories have been raised, but the possibility of donation through the foundation is weighing as much as mentioning sequential social return. In addition, it is a policy to collect opinions on detailed ideas for donations through meetings with members of Kakao.
However, some people have come up with an afterword about the timing of donation. An analysis was raised that this donation plan is not unrelated to the controversy over management succession since Chairman Kim donated tens of billions of billions of stocks to his two children.
Earlier, on the 19th of last month, Chairman Kim donated 330,000 shares of stock to 14 relatives. This was the value of Kakao shares at the time, equivalent to KRW 145.2 billion in cash. At this time, he gave 60,000 shares (about 25 billion won) to his wife and two children each, but afterwards, doubts about preparing for the second-generation succession work in the industry, unlike Chairman Kim promised not to carry on the management succession, rose to the surface.
Moreover, the two children are known to receive billions of annual salaries while working at K Cube Holdings, the private company of Chairman Kim, fueling the suspicion. K Cube Holdings, an investment company established in 2007, is 100% owned by Chairman Kim, and is also the second largest shareholder with 11.21% stake in Kakao. Chairman Kim’s children have been reported to have worked at K Cube Holdings since last year, and as of the end of 2019, the number of employees was only 5, but that year’s salary expenditure reached 1.4 billion won.
However, inside and outside the industry, as Chairman Kim has already mentioned plans to give back to society for a long time, the announcement of this donation may also be based on his usual beliefs. In fact, he has revealed plans for return since 2011.
In his book’Talk Tok National App’s Kakao Talk Story’ published that year, he said, “To make the world a better place to live than before he was born, and to leave, because he once lived here, he was happy even in the life of one person. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, “To lose, this is a real success,” he said.
Chairman Kim donated 11,000 shares to the Community Fund for Social Welfare after the spread of coronavirus infectious disease-19 (hereinafter referred to as Corona 19) last year, and 2830 shares of stocks were delivered to the social welfare community fund. . According to Kakao, the amount that Chairman Kim returned to society from 2007 to the present amounted to a total of 22.4 billion won, including 7.2 billion won in cash and 94,000 stocks.
Kakao also explained that Chairman Kim’s donation plan was an old belief, and that he had already been preparing for it since last year. In addition, he drew a line that the gift of two children and working at KQS Holdings have nothing to do with management succession.
An official from Kakao said, “The plan for giving back to society has been talked about since 2011. I have already said that leaving something in the world and contributing to it is a real success,” he said. “I have been preparing for donation since last year, saying that I think that more wealth than effort is a bonus.”
He added, “The background for the donation is unknown, but the donation was decided earlier than that.” He added, “It makes no sense to donate because of the controversy about the gift, and reports related to KQS Holdings often misunderstand the fact.” .
He also emphasized that “K Cube Holdings is not a company that has a business relationship with us, and it is difficult to know the details.” He emphasized that “(donation and work of children) have nothing to do with management succession.”
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