Kakao operating profit rises as net income tumbles

Kakao, an internet-services operator, posted second-quarter net income that fell 89.5 percent to 18 billion won ($12.6 million) from 172 billion won ($121 million) a year earlier.

Operating profit rose 49 percent to 277 billion won ($194 million) from 186 billion won ($130 million), while revenue climbed 3.5 percent to 2.1 trillion won ($1.47 billion) from 2.03 trillion won ($1.42 billion).

Kakao continued to classify gains and losses from Kakao Games and its subsidiaries as discontinued operations.

Platform revenue reached 1.23 trillion won ($863 million), including 643 billion won ($451 million) from Talk Biz, which includes advertising, subscriptions and commerce. Talk Biz generated 400 billion won ($281 million) in advertising and subscription revenue and 243 billion won ($171 million) in commerce revenue. Kakao said business-message revenue rose on steady demand from financial-sector advertisers, while display advertising on KakaoTalk grew with increased user activity and new advertising products.

Gift and Talk Deal posted a combined transaction value of 2.7 trillion won ($1.9 billion), led by a rise in self-purchase transaction value within Gift. Other platform businesses, including mobility and Pay, generated 587 billion won ($412 million), supported by mobility's existing business and last-mile logistics, as well as Pay's financial, payment and platform services.