Kim Bum Soo Casts Spell On ‘Focusing On Mobile’

People are focusing on Daum Kakao’s transformation as it faces establishment of newly-appointed CEO Lim Ji Hoon’s system.

It is heard that newly-appointed CEO nominee Lim Ji Hoon, who receives a lot of attention for being a young CEO in his 30s, cut off contracts with outside for a month after he was nominated on the 11th of August and has been focusing on understanding inside of his company.

Although it seems that co-CEOs Lee Seok Woo and Choi Sae Hoon, who had been leading the company since the merger, will play roles of ‘guardian’ for awhile, it is predicted however that there will be reduction of positions for executives who are 40 years old and over and has been leading the company since appointment of CEO Lee Seok Woo.

Following resignation of Lee Jae Bum, who had been leading KakaoTalk and controlling all of new businesses, in last July, Kang Jun Yeol who was the top person (CSO221, Vice-President) in charge of service recently resigned as well. Moving on from ‘Founding Contributors’ generation, more people are now viewing Daum Kakao signaling a flare that indicates transformation of its management becoming younger.

There is a higher chance that reorganization of management will be in a form of reassignment of mobile new businesses rather than artificial restructuring of management. “Change in our mission indicates that we will be focusing on mobile service. We will be strengthening our competitiveness in mobile brand by detaching Daum image that is number 2 in web portals.” said Board Chairman Kim Bum Soo at a recent meeting where every company employees gathered together.

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<Board Chairman Kim Bum Soo of Daum Kakao>

“Daum has been a leader along with Naver that has been leading South Korean internet industry. Reassignment will occur from a level where manpower and knowhow are grafted into mobile.” said one person who is familiar with Daum Kakao’s situation. Its headquarters in Jeju, which had a rumor that it was going to pull out, will change into a form that takes full charge of its business in Jeju region including Jeju Center for Creation Economy & Innovation.

It is going to strengthen current sources of its sales and increase profitability. It is also starting ‘Mobile Web Board Game’ including Go-Stop and Poker in gaming business that has the highest percentage of Daum Kakao’s sales after advertisements.

It is joining hands with businesses such as Sundaytoz, Party Games, and others that brought sensation to Kakao Games and work on growth of South Korean web board game market that is estimated to bring $169 million to $253 million (200 billion to 300 billion) annually.

New business is plotting to bring profit from ‘Kakao High-Class Taxi’ and ‘Internet Banking’. It seems that it will be difficult to carry out its chauffeur service, which had been receiving a lot of attention, due to strong opposition from regional chauffeur service businesses.

On the other hand, it is starting Kakao High-Class Taxi service, which increased its service with exclusive drivers and luxury cars such as Benz and BMW, starting from October. It is attempting Kakao Taxi’s profitability, which recorded 16 million accumulated calls since its release in first half of 2015, on full-scale.

Goal of Kakao Bank, which is formed by KB Kookmin Bank and Korea Investment Holdings joining hands, is to first receive preliminary approval within this year and preoccupy markets on full-scale starting from next year.

It chose Southeast Asian countries as its entry to global countries. It is currently examining variety of services that uses Indonesia’s ‘Pass’, which was bought in last May, as a bridgehead.

“Just like one can see from a switchover of Google’s holding company’s system, it is important for internet businesses to be small and efficient groups and rapidly put out services. It is natural that Daum Kakao, which has been leading mobile innovation in South Korean market, is pressing on changes with new growth engines and globalism in its mind.” said Professor Choi Jae Hong of Gangneung-Wonju National University.

Staff Reporter Kim, Siso | siso@etnews.com