Kakao’s board has approved an unprecedented corporate split that will separate the company’s KakaoTalk and artificial-intelligence operations from its portfolio of financial, mobility and other affiliate investments. The new operating company, Kakao AI, will focus on the messenger and AI services, while Kakao X will manage major group holdings and pursue new investments.
Two different businesses
The company says the structure is designed to make decisions faster. Kakao has spent years adding businesses around its core messenger, creating a group whose consumer services, regulated financial assets, mobility operations and investment portfolio often require very different strategies. Splitting those functions gives each management team a clearer capital-allocation problem.
Kakao AI, led by CEO Chung Shin-a, is expected to push KakaoTalk toward an AI-assistant model that can handle search, recommendations and transactions inside the conversation interface. Korean reporting says the company is targeting ₩6 trillion in revenue for Kakao AI by 2030. Kakao X, meanwhile, would oversee interests including KakaoBank, Kakao Pay and Kakao Mobility while looking for new growth in areas such as digital assets and physical AI.
The restructuring does not automatically create value. Existing shareholders are expected to receive shares in both companies according to the approved split ratio, and investors still have to judge whether the two entities deserve higher combined valuations than the current group. Kakao shares fell sharply after the announcement, showing that the market is not treating the split as an uncomplicated positive.
What matters next is execution: shareholder and regulatory approvals, the precise listing timetable, and whether the separation produces genuinely faster product decisions rather than simply adding another layer of corporate complexity.