Kakao Union Opposes Spin-off: "You Can Divide the Company, But Not Responsibility"

Union Pledges to Block Spin-off at December Shareholders' Meeting
"We Will Meet With National Pension Service... and Persuade Individual Investors," Union Says

The Kakao union has expressed its opposition to the management’s planned spin-off. The union announced its plan to block the spin-off, which is scheduled to be voted on at the general meeting of shareholders at the end of this year, through joint bargaining and efforts to persuade major shareholders.

Seungwook Seo, head of the Kakao branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ Chemical Fiber and Food Workers’ Union (Kakao union), stated at the “Joint Bargaining Declaration Against Kakao Split” held on the afternoon of August 26 at Pangyo Station Plaza in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, “Our first goal in joint bargaining is to stop the Kakao split,” emphasizing, “While it may be possible to break up the company, responsibility cannot be divided.”

At the "Kakao Bank Strike Fight Resolution Rally and Joint Negotiation Declaration Against Kakao's Split" held on the 26th at Pangyo Station Plaza in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, members of the Kakao branch of the National Chemical Fiber Food Industry Workers' Union are shouting slogans. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The union said it intends to raise awareness among key shareholders and civic society regarding the problems with the proposed spin-off, and thereby block the plan. Seo stressed, “We will inform the crew (Kakao employees), shareholders, and society about the problems of the split,” adding, “We will join forces to fight to reject the spin-off proposal at the Kakao general meeting of shareholders.”

At a subsequent press conference, the union insisted that the decision to spin off was rushed. Seo said, “A spin-off plan should be proposed as a solution to a problem, but presenting a division plan first and then saying the problems will be solved afterwards is not acceptable.”

To block the spin-off, the union also plans to persuade the National Pension Service, a major shareholder that holds 5.4% of Kakao shares. Seo commented, “First, we will meet with the National Pension Service, which is a key shareholder. Given that individual shareholders strongly oppose this spin-off decision, if the National Pension Service supports it, that would be inconsistent with its policy of being shareholder-friendly.”

The spin-off plan is to be discussed as a special resolution at the shareholder meeting scheduled for December. To pass, the special resolution must receive at least two-thirds approval from shareholders present and at least one-third approval from the total issued shares. Seo said, “If one-third of the shares present are opposed, the proposal can be rejected, so we believe it is feasible,” adding, “Since there are many retail investors among Kakao’s shareholders, rather than focusing only on persuading selective major shareholders such as institutional investors, there will be aspects to discuss broadly with the general public.”

The union also officially announced its plan to pursue joint bargaining at the entire Kakao community level. Their stance is that even if Kakao is split into KakaoX and KakaoAI after the spin-off, the overall community needs a structure where all entities negotiate with management together at once. The union said it would deliver its joint bargaining request to management on this day and formally request negotiations.

A Kakao representative commented on the spin-off decision, saying, “The company sees this as a significant change for all employees, so we plan to continue communicating with union members and all stakeholders.”

Meanwhile, the KakaoBank union’s “KakaoBank Strike Struggle Resolution Rally” was also held at the demonstration. KakaoBank union is set to stage a five-day consecutive strike from the 31st of this month to the 4th of next month.

Kangmin Chun, KakaoBank representative in the Kakao union, argued, “It is never fair that while management receives bold rewards for their performance, they respond to the members’ legitimate demands only with cost considerations,” and insisted, “Management needs to bring forth a sincere proposal that realistically changes the numbers and structure.”

Seungwook Seo, head of the Kakao branch of the Korean Federation of Chemical Workers' Unions (KCTU), spoke at the "Joint Negotiation Declaration Ceremony Against Kakao's Split" held in the afternoon of the 26th at Pangyo Station Square in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Myunghwan Lee

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.