Kakao Corp. formalized the separation of its struggling Daum portal service on Thursday, establishing Daum Preparatory New Corporation as a wholly-owned subsidiary following a board resolution.
The move concludes a gradual unwinding that began in May 2023 when Daum was restructured as an internal company-in-company. Yang Ju-il, the current representative of the content CIC, has been designated as the new CEO, according to the company’s statement.
The spin-off underscores Daum’s precipitous decline since Kakao acquired it for 3.35 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in 2014. According to Internet Trend, a local web analytics platform, Daum held a 3.1 percent share of the domestic search engine market as of Friday, trailing far behind market leader Naver’s 60.3 percent and Google’s 31.7 percent.
Industry experts believe Kakao’s latest move could be setting up Daum for a potential sale, though CEO Chung Shin-a has denied such intentions. The tech giant has been streamlining operations around core businesses including its dominant KakaoTalk messaging platform and artificial intelligence initiatives.
The independent structure aims to provide Daum with operational flexibility to experiment with short-form content and media offerings while maintaining synergies with Kakao’s broader ecosystem. However, the portal’s path to relevance remains uncertain in South Korea’s competitive digital landscape.
