Kakao, Daum to Split and Operate Separately

Kakao Corp. announces the establishment of Kakao and Daum company-in-company (CIC) as they split up to operate separately. The internet company decided to turn Daum into an independent web portal so it will run as a CIC.

This will allow Daum to do its business on its own but will still be within the bounds of its parent company, Kakao. The South Korean internet company said its separation from Daum is taking place on May 15. The decision for the split comes as the search engine finds it hard to keep up with Naver, its rival that is currently dominating the market.

According to Korea Joongang Daily, as Daum will start operating independently, it will have its own chief executive officer, finance system, employees, and benefits. The division is taking place for the first time since Kakao and Daum merged in 2014.

As the new Daum CIC, the company will scale up the promotion of its main businesses in online communities, media, and search engines. It is also planning to launch new services to keep up with the fast-changing trends in the tech industry and would probably work on artificial intelligence.

In the press release, Kakao Corp. explained it “decided to operate the Daum business division as CIC in order to focus more on the value of Daum service as a search and content distribution platform and achieve results.”

The company added that this is “a strategy to establish an organizational system capable of prompt and independent decision-making, establish goals for the next service, and enhance service competitiveness.”

Hwang Yu Ji has been appointed as Daum CIC’s chief executive officer. He is currently leading the web portal’s business unit. Meanwhile, A CIC in businesses is a kind of subsidiary with its own CEO who will be in full charge of the company.