Seoul: Kakao Corp., the operator of the country's dominant mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said Thursday its fourth-quarter net loss narrowed due to lower impairment assessments on content units. Its net deficit totaled 276.9 billion won (US$190.1 million) for the quarter on a consolidated basis, compared with a net loss of 1.91 trillion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kakao's operating profit sank 33.7 percent on-year to 106.7 billion won, and revenue fell 2 percent to 1.95 trillion won. The company explained that the decline in quarterly net loss was led by a decrease in asset impairment losses from its content units acquired in previous years.
Quarterly sales from the platform business unit rose 10 percent on-year to 1 trillion won, primarily driven by higher revenue from its mobile messenger, KakaoTalk. However, sales from the content business unit dropped 13 percent on-year to 910.1 billion won, attributed to the sluggish performance of its gaming, music streaming, and webtoon units.
For 2024, Kakao reported a net loss decrease to 43.6 billion won from a net deficit of 1.81 trillion won. The company's operating profit for the year rose 6.6 percent on-year to 491.5 billion won, while annual sales increased 4.2 percent to 7.87 trillion won. Kakao announced plans to introduce its new artificial intelligence (AI) service, Kanana, and other related services later this year in collaboration with OpenAI.