Kakao Entertainment is putting greater weight on upgrading its platforms and services under its new co-CEO leadership. The company is shifting from the previous Kwon Ki-su & Jang Yoon-joong structure, which focused on organizational stabilization and global expansion, to a new Ko Jeong-hee & Jang Yoon-joong structure with the addition of platform and service specialist Ko Jeong-hee. As Kakao Group has identified AI and global fandom as new growth pillars for this year, Ko is expected to take on the task of linking Kakao Entertainment’s various services and strengthening their competitiveness.
From left: Kakao Entertainment co-CEOs Ko Jeong-hee and Jang Yoon-joong. / Kakao Entertainment
Platform and service specialist moved to the forefront
According to industry sources on March 26, Kakao Entertainment appointed former KakaoBank AI Group head Ko Jeong-hee as co-CEO through procedures at its regular shareholders’ meeting and board meeting. Co-CEO Jang Yoon-joong will oversee IP and global business, while co-CEO Ko Jeong-hee will be responsible for advancing and innovating platform and service strategy.
Ko’s career path clearly shows where Kakao Entertainment intends to place its strategic focus. Ko joined Daum in 2002 and worked on Daum Cafe and blog services before going on to serve in Kakao’s business strategy team and as KakaoBank’s Chief Service Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. She is credited with leading innovative services that leveraged user communities, including KakaoBank’s 26-week savings plan, group account service and “favorite idol” savings product.
The previous Kwon Ki-su & Jang Yoon-joong structure and the newly launched Ko Jeong-hee & Jang Yoon-joong structure differ in their center of gravity. Kwon, whose background is in operations and finance as a former chief operating officer and chief financial officer, focused on business stabilization, reform and internal integration when that leadership structure was launched in 2024. At the time, Kakao was pushing to reduce the number of affiliates in a bid to dispel criticism over sprawling expansion.
In that process, downsizing Kakao Entertainment’s corporate footprint was a key task. As of February this year, Kakao Entertainment oversaw 45 of Kakao Group’s 94 affiliates, including those under SM Entertainment. In other words, 47.9% of Kakao affiliates fall under Kakao Entertainment. Kakao Entertainment directly holds stakes in 29 affiliates alone.
After focusing on group-wide streamlining efforts through last year, Kakao has begun pursuing growth in earnest this year. Kakao Group’s vision for this year is also centered on building human-centered AI and a global fandom operating system. Kakao Group Chair and Kakao CEO Jeong Sin-a said, “This year marks the beginning of Kakao’s next 15 years,” adding, “The time has come to shift gears toward growth based on the energy we have built up.”
After downsizing, the next task is platform upgrading
In line with Kakao’s new vision, Kakao Entertainment’s priorities have also shifted toward connecting its scattered businesses and generating synergy. There are also clear reasons why the company needs to pay closer attention to platform upgrades this year. Launched in 2021 through the merger of KakaoPage and Kakao M, Kakao Entertainment operates across three business divisions: story, including webtoons and web novels; music, including music and album distribution and Melon; and media, covering video production and distribution.
Kakao Entertainment has long faced criticism that its businesses are not well connected. Even KakaoPage and Kakao Webtoon, both operated by Kakao Entertainment and dealing with the same intellectual property, have repeatedly been criticized for not being linked with each other. Performance has also been on a downward trend. Revenue in the story division fell 6.3% from a year earlier to 497.1 billion won. Revenue in the media division declined 8.6% over the same period to 314.6 billion won. By contrast, the music division, which reflects SM Entertainment, grew 0.2% to 1.001 trillion won.
Changes in the market surrounding music platform Melon also make this an important moment. The Fair Trade Commission on Nov. 27 last year approved a consent decree over Google’s bundling of YouTube Music, resulting in the launch of a “YouTube Premium Lite” plan that removes YouTube ads without including a YouTube Music subscription. That gives Melon an opportunity to attract users who wanted an ad-free YouTube experience but did not use YouTube Music. Kakao Entertainment’s own fandom platform Berriz and Bubble, the fandom platform run by SM Entertainment subsidiary DearU, have also yet to generate any meaningful synergy.
Another important development is the return of former Kakao Entertainment CEO Lee Jin-soo in January this year as head of future strategy at the Kakao Future Initiative Center. The Kakao Future Initiative Center is an organization tasked with identifying future business strategies and mid- to long-term growth engines at the group level, and founder Kim Beom-soo serves as its head. Lee, founder of Podotree, the predecessor to KakaoPage, is widely regarded as a figure with deep know-how in the story business and fandom business. Lee will design the group’s mid- to long-term strategy, while Ko, as Chief Platform Officer, will oversee platform upgrades. Jang also heads the Global Growth Center and is in charge of designing the global growth roadmap.
Kim Yong-hee, a professor at Sun Moon University, said, “The fact that Ko Jeong-hee is not a specialist in the entertainment industry could be seen as a source of concern for Kakao Entertainment. On the other hand, she is an expert in the Kakao ecosystem and in the convergence of services and content, which raises expectations that she can make effective use of KakaoTalk as a super app and combine it with entertainment elements.”
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