[비즈한국] Following Samsung Electronics, strike movements are gaining momentum at Kakao as well. The Kakao branch of the National Chemical, Fiber, and Food Workers' Union announced on the 20th that strike votes across five entities—Kakao Corp., Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, DK Techin, and XL Games—all passed with approval.
One of the primary issues in this labor-management conflict at Kakao is reported to be performance bonuses. While the details of the negotiations have not been officially disclosed, there is talk that Kakao labor and management discussed bonuses at the level of 10% of last year's operating profit.
Kakao’s operating profit increased by 47.80% from 495.3 billion won in 2024 to 732 billion won in 2025. However, Kakao Pay, which attracts significant attention from the financial sector, only achieved a turnaround to a profit of 50.4 billion won in 2025 after recording annual losses since its inception in 2017. Financial burdens have grown. The debt-to-equity ratio rose by 42.67 percentage points (p) from 131.03% at the end of 2024 to 173.70% at the end of 2025. During the same period, total liabilities increased by 35.33% from 2.5039 trillion won to 3.3887 trillion won.
The union maintains that the labor-management conflict did not emerge solely due to the bonus issue. The Kakao branch pointed to management's issues including: neglect of overtime work and deteriorating organizational culture, forced consent to forensics for employees, repeated replacement of negotiation representatives, failure to present a negotiation proposal by the end of April, unilateral implementation of performance and retention bonuses, one-sided follow-up measures regarding labor inspections, and virtual foot-dragging in negotiations until receiving recommendations from the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
The Kakao branch refuted the situation, stating, "The 10% operating profit the company emphasizes externally is merely one of several options that were reviewed after being proposed by the company during negotiations," and added, "This was mentioned while discussing various compensation systems during intensive negotiations and was not a demand from the labor union nor the core issue for the breakdown of negotiations."
The union also pointed out that while compensation for regular employees is not significant, the management has received excessive remuneration. According to the Kakao branch, Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a received 26 billion won in performance bonuses when she stepped down as CEO of Kakao Ventures in 2022, and former Kakao CEO Hong Eun-taek received 8.4 billion won under the names of wages and performance bonuses when he retired in 2024. Furthermore, Ryu Young-joon, former CEO of Kakao Pay (current CEO of SK Elec-link), previously caused a 'hit-and-run' controversy by exercising stock options in 2021.
Although the strike vote has been passed, the union is not going on strike immediately. After the first mediation meeting on the 18th, the labor and management of Kakao Corp. agreed to postpone the mediation date to the 27th. If mediation fails on the 27th as well, the union can immediately enter a strike as they have already gone through the voting process. For the other four entities including Kakao Pay, the mediation procedures have already broken down, allowing them to strike at any time.
A Kakao official stated, "As the labor and management agreed to extend the mediation deadline on the 18th, the company plans to continue efforts for a smooth agreement during the remaining period." No position has been released by CEO Chung Shin-a, subsidiary CEOs, or other management personnel. This stands in contrast to Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who personally demonstrated his will to resolve the situation in front of reporters by saying, "To our labor union members and the Samsung family, we are one body and one family," and adding, "It is time for us to gather our wisdom and strength to move in one direction."