The downturn of Kakao's operating income
Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said on Nov. 8, 2018 its third-quarter operating profit fell 35 percent from a year earlier, due to increased costs from its new businesses.
Operating income reached 30.7 billion won (US$27.3 million) in the July-September period from 47.4 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing Sales, however, rose 16 percent on-year to a quarterly record high of 599.3 billion won, the company said.
Kakao said its operating income plunged due to increased investments in new businesses that the company recently launched in an effort to secure new growth engines.
Kakao said the revenue from its content platform remained steady at 306.7 billion won, with the figure representing a 17 percent on-year increase.
The advertising sector's sales grew 10 percent on-year to 167.1 billion won over the cited period on the back of revenue growth of its mobile advertising.
The music content sales also expanded by 11 percent on-year to 136 billion won in the third quarter due to steady revenues from its streaming service, Melon. (Yonhap)