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Kakao Holds Town Hall Today Amid Keen Interest in Holding Company Conversion and KakaoTalk Spin-off

Choi Seung-hun

Published : Aug 21, 2026 9:19 AM


Kakao is holding a town hall meeting for its employees today (August 21).

According to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry on August 21, Kakao notified its employees yesterday (August 20) evening that the town hall meeting would take place this morning.

While Kakao has not officially disclosed specific agenda items, some parts of the IT industry are reporting that plans to convert Kakao's headquarters into a holding company and spin off KakaoTalk into a separate corporate entity will be discussed.

In response, Kakao's labor union has taken official action.

In a notice to its members, the Kakao labor union stated, "We expect an announcement regarding Kakao's corporate split," adding, "Since management has not responded to our official requests for confirmation, we are preparing response strategies for various scenarios."

The Kakao labor union plans to host an open chat session for union members centered around the targeted entities for the split on August 24, and is also considering collective action on August 26.

Kakao employees are also closely watching today's town hall meeting.

On the online community Blind, some Kakao employees wrote posts claiming that "Kakao is trying to spin off KakaoTalk and TalkBiz" and "Kakao is trying to separate the AI business."