<Anchor>
Kakao, which was criticized for violating alley commercial rights, announced a win-win plan yesterday (14th), promising fundamental reforms by abandoning the 10-year growth method. The company expanded its business based on KakaoTalk, a powerful messenger platform, and generated most of its sales in the domestic market.
What the prospect is, reporter Han Sang-woo pointed out.
<Reporter>
Content is the core of Kakao's overseas expansion.
We are trying to expand the service area, which is currently centered in Asia, through music and video using Melon, the largest music site in Korea, and the recently acquired North American webtoon and web novel platform.
[Kakao official: We are developing various content businesses centered on Korean webtoons, and in fact, we are operating the No. 1 content platform in Japan and Southeast Asia.] We
are increasing overseas sales mainly on mobile games, and blockchain in Singapore. A subsidiary has also been established, but profits are still negligible.
Overseas sales accounted for less than one-tenth of Kakao's total sales of 4.1 trillion won last year.
This is because KakaoTalk, a messenger service that has a monopolistic status in Korea, cannot use its power overseas. This is compared to Naver, which succeeded in Japan as a messenger 'Line' in 2011 and then developed it into a global messenger and expanded its overseas business.
It is pointed out that it may not be easy to break away from a business structure that generates profits mainly from commissions in the domestic market.
[Hong Ki-hoon/Professor of Business Administration, Hongik University: After securing a lot of people (platform users), whatever you do, it just works. They are in a situation where it is difficult for them to self-purify themselves... .] Although
criticism of the abuse of platform dominance grew and a fundamental change was declared, it is evaluated that concrete alternatives for a new business strategy are lacking.
(Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)