Kakao Achieves Record Earnings in 2025, Driven by Platform Success
Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a announced on Thursday that the South Korean tech giant has formed a strategic alliance with Google to enhance on-device artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for Android devices.
“This partnership marks the beginning of a deeper collaboration with Android, allowing us to push the boundaries of on-device AI services,” stated Chung during the earnings call.
By directly collaborating with the Android development team, Kakao aims to leverage its data assets through embedded AI applications.
Kakao and Google are actively fine-tuning these AI services for Android smartphones. The plan is to integrate them into Kakao’s AI assistant, Kakana, within KakaoTalk. Kakana will proactively initiate conversations and provide contextual assistance, including scheduling briefings, delivering information updates, and offering personalized recommendations based on user chat history.
Kakana in KakaoTalk entered beta testing in October. A full release, featuring Android support, is anticipated in the first quarter of this year.
Chung also revealed that the partnership extends beyond mobile software into infrastructure. “Kakao is exploring operating TPU cloud services in Korea, leveraging our existing capabilities,” she said.
Furthermore, there’s potential for collaboration on Google’s future hardware. “We are exploring how Kakao services can improve user experiences across various AI form factors, such as Google’s upcoming AI glasses, and we intend to experiment accordingly,” she added.
The company’s goal is to deliver a hands-free user experience that facilitates natural interaction during everyday tasks like messaging and calls.
Chung also provided updates on Kakao’s ongoing partnership with OpenAI, established last year. “We are continuing to expand our business-to-consumer AI services with ChatGPT, which boasts one of the largest user bases globally,” she said.
Since launching ChatGPT for Kakao in the fourth quarter, the company has focused on service stabilization. In 2026, the focus will be on strengthening the integration between KakaoTalk and ChatGPT, gradually introducing new AI-powered features within the messaging platform.
“We plan to enhance the contextual connection between KakaoTalk and ChatGPT, rolling out various AI functionalities in phases,” Chung explained.
She emphasized the complementary nature of Kakao’s partnerships with Google and OpenAI. “We are collaborating with Google on device experiences and with OpenAI on B2C AI services, enabling us to efficiently cover the full AI stack without duplication,” she said. “This approach allows us to optimize investments by partnering with the leading players in each domain.”
In separate news, Kakao announced its highest-ever financial results for the 2025 fiscal year on Thursday. The company reported 8.09 trillion won ($5.62 billion) in consolidated revenue, a 2.9 percent year-over-year increase. Operating profit surged by 59.1 percent to 732 billion won. Net income rebounded to 525.7 billion won, marking a return to profitability.
This performance was primarily driven by the Talk Biz segment. Fourth-quarter revenue in this division increased by 13 percent year-on-year to 627.1 billion won. Operating profit for the quarter soared by 169.7 percent to 203.4 billion won, while total revenue reached 2.13 trillion won. Net loss for the period was 39.3 billion won.
Kakao also announced that its board approved Chung’s reappointment as CEO for another two-year term during a Wednesday board meeting. The proposal will be finalized at the company’s annual shareholders meeting scheduled for March 26.
With Kakao reporting record earnings and accelerating its AI strategy, Chung’s reappointment is considered highly probable.
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