Kakao founder Kim Beom Su resigns from board and here’s why

Kakao's founder, Kim Beom Su, is leaving the company's board as its chairman. He has quit, and his resignation was announced on Monday, March 14.

According to The Korea Herald, while the executive has already forwarded his resignation letter, his departure will still have to be approved by the board. The members will be convening on March 29 for the upcoming shareholders' meeting, and the decision will also be announced there.

It was shared that Kim is leaving his post in Kakao to explore bigger business opportunities overseas and move past the bounds of mobile-centered platform businesses. The move is part of the company's plans for global expansion as Kakao is reorganizing its strategy for the next 10 years.

Moreover, as Kim Beom Su steps down, he will be resuming his role as Kakao's Future Initiative Center's head. Prior to his resignation, he has been the board's chair since 2015.

Based on the announcement, the Kakao founder will start his expansion exploration in Japan. He already has extensive business experience in this region so this will be the start. For starters, Kim will broaden the services of Piccoma, Kakao's Japanese webtoon platform, where he is also serving as its director since 2017.

"Beyond Korea is Kakao's own mission and strong demand from Korean society to go beyond the starting point of Korea and pioneer a new land called the overseas market," Kim said in a message to Kakao's employees that was also published as a press release on March 14.

He added, "I hope that we can make a wonderful new voyage together so that we can realize our dream of becoming a company and wish to join the journey of Kakao to create a strong foothold in the international market, challenging the global IT giants."

Meanwhile, with the change, Kakao Entertainment and Kakao Games will start realigning their businesses based on the new Kakao's "Beyond Korea" slogan. It was mentioned that these will mainly provide fresh web content and games that the global audience will like. Under the company's new CEO, Kakao is also expected to dive into other business ventures such as the metaverse.