Kakao, a tech giant from South Korea, announced on August 8 that its consolidated revenue for Q2 2024 reached KRW 2.049 trillion (approximately USD 1.55 billion), marking a 4% increase year-on-year. The company reported an operating profit of KRW 134 billion (approximately USD 101 million), up 18%, with an operating profit margin of 6.7%.

In terms of business segments, the Platform division recorded Q2 revenue of KRW 955.3 billion (approximately USD 723 million), up 10% year-on-year.

Within the Platform division, Talk Biz, which handles advertising and commerce through KakaoTalk, achieved Q2 revenue of KRW 513.9 billion (approximately USD 389 million), a 7% increase year-on-year. Advertising revenue within Talk Biz grew by 9% to KRW 307.3 billion (approximately USD 233 million), while transaction-based revenue, such as gift-giving, rose by 5% to KRW 206.6 billion (approximately USD 156 million).

KakaoTalk’s Monthly Active Users (MAU) in Korea for Q2 reached 48.93 million. Other platform services, including mobility and payments, saw Q2 revenue increase by 18% to KRW 353.5 billion (approximately USD 267 million). However, Portal Biz’s Q2 revenue decreased by 2% year-on-year to KRW 87.9 billion (approximately USD 66 million).

The Content division, another core segment of Kakao’s business, reported Q2 revenue of KRW 1.049 trillion (approximately USD 793 million), remaining relatively flat compared to the previous year.

In the Content division, Music revenue for Q2 increased by 6% year-on-year to KRW 510.9 billion (approximately USD 386 million), driven by strong album sales from artists like IVE, RIIZE, and aespa, who sold 1.7 million, 1.27 million, and 1.17 million copies respectively.

Story revenue for Q2 decreased by 7% year-on-year to KRW 215.7 billion (approximately USD 163 million), attributed to increased costs from strategic marketing in the competitive Japanese webtoon market by Piccoma.

Media revenue for Q2 grew by 22% year-on-year to KRW 89.6 billion (approximately USD 68 million), influenced by the base effect from a production lineup that was more concentrated in the latter half of the previous year.

Kakao’s consolidated operating expenses for Q2 were KRW 1.8709 trillion (approximately USD 1.41 billion), a 3% increase year-on-year.

Kakao stated, “We will solidify our existing business structure based on KakaoTalk features like Talk Channel and gift-giving while accelerating the development of new AI services to enhance KakaoTalk’s core competitiveness and establish a foundation for sustainable long-term growth.”

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