Kakao

Kakao was founded in 2006 and launched the messenger KakaoTalk in 2010. In 2014 it merged with the portal company Daum Communications, founded in 1995, and has been called Kakao since 2015. It is listed on the Korea Exchange, its registered headquarters are in Jeju, and most of its people work at Kakao Pangyo Agit in Seongnam.

KakaoTalk, used by nearly everyone in South Korea, is the centre of its business: messaging, advertising, gifting and commerce, Kakao Map and Kanana, its AI assistant. Its group companies include KakaoBank, Kakao Pay, Kakao Mobility, Kakao Entertainment and Kakao Games. In 2025 it moved the Daum portal into a separate company, and in August 2026 its board approved a split, from 1 January 2027, into KakaoAI, built around KakaoTalk, and KakaoX, which will hold the other group companies.

According to the company's figures for the end of 2025, Kakao Corp. itself had 3,922 employees, most of them at Pangyo Agit, with a further office in Jeju. Its subsidiaries, such as KakaoBank and Kakao Mobility, employ their own staff.