Kakao, operator of South Korea’s leading mobile messaging app Kakao Talk, in a regulatory filing to the Korean Exchange (KRX) on Thursday said that the company’s sales increased by 28 percent and operating profit by 183 percent.
Kakao Talk is the nation’s leading mobile messenger with over 43 million monthly active users as per the report of its fourth-quarter in 2019.
Kakao’s current business model, as well as new businesses such as KakaoTalk Biz Board (TalkBoard), a business-to-business (B2B) service based on KakaoTalk, taxi-hailing and chauffeur reservation services, raised 3.08 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in sales and 206.6 billion won ($175 million) in operating profit in 2019.
The internet company also forecasted higher revenue for 2020 due to a boost in advertisement sales from Kakao Talk.
Kakao decided to display item advertisements in its messenger application last year as part of its efforts to improve its sales. The company’s strategy demonstrated success as the posted sales reached over 3.08 trillion won ($2.6 billion), a first for the firm.
Kakao’s CEO, Yeo Min-soo, assured investors that the company would strengthen its advertisement business, securing more advertisers for the Kakao Talk platform. Yeo added that they have already secured over 3,000 fresh advertisers, ranging from small to big-sized companies, for the platform.
The company’s platform business and mobile payment business reported sales of 1.43 trillion won ($1.21 billion) with annual sales growth of 38 percent.
Kakao also announced its intention to enter the property insurance business, after the success of its fin-tech service Kakaopay and internet-only bank subsidiary Kakao Bank.
Kakao’s executive vice president Bae Jae-hyun, told investors that as a brokerage service provider, the company also plans to launch various stock trading-related services. Additionally, the company is also making efforts to start a digital property insurance company based on innovative ideas in insurance technology.
The internet company will actively promote the international launch of its paid content service such as novels, mobile games, and webcomics this year.
Yeo said that they are preparing to launch Kakao Page, a mobile content platform in China, Thailand, and Taiwan.
