Kakao Corp. (035720) reported consolidated annual revenue of 8.0991 trillion won for 2025, up 3% year-on-year, the company announced Wednesday. Annual operating income jumped 48% to 732 billion won. Both figures represent all-time highs since the company's founding.
Fourth-quarter consolidated revenue rose 9% year-on-year to 2.1332 trillion won, while operating income surged 136% to 203.4 billion won. The quarterly revenue marked the highest on record, with operating income exceeding 200 billion won for the second consecutive quarter.
By business segment, platform revenue climbed 17% year-on-year to 1.2226 trillion won in the fourth quarter.
Within the platform segment, TalkBiz revenue increased 13% to 627.1 billion won. TalkBiz advertising revenue grew 16% to 373.4 billion won, driven by a 19% rise in business message revenue and an 18% increase in display advertising.
TalkBiz commerce revenue, including gift services and TalkDeal, rose 8% to 253.4 billion won. Total commerce transaction volume reached 3 trillion won for the first time in a single quarter, up 12% year-on-year. Gift service transactions grew 14%, boosted by the Chuseok holiday effect and expanded year-end promotions. Annual commerce transaction volume increased 6% to 10.6 trillion won.
Other platform revenue, including mobility and payment services, jumped 30% to 523.9 billion won. The mobility business posted double-digit revenue growth as parking and quick delivery services expanded alongside the stable taxi business. Kakao Pay recorded balanced growth across payment, financial, and platform services.
Content segment revenue was flat year-on-year at 910.6 billion won. Music and media revenue rose 12% and 30% to 525.1 billion won and 95.8 billion won, respectively. Story revenue declined 5% to 191.8 billion won.
Fourth-quarter operating expenses increased 3% to 1.9298 trillion won, with operating margin reaching 10%.
This year, Kakao plans to shift strategic gears toward growth in AI and KakaoTalk, its core businesses. The company will officially launch its on-device AI service "Kanana in KakaoTalk" on both Android and iOS platforms in the first quarter, while continuing to develop and enhance its proprietary language models.
"The results of our restructuring efforts to focus group capabilities on core businesses are now clearly reflected in our financial metrics," said Kakao CEO Shina Chung. "We will demonstrate our performance through improved results while delivering tangible outcomes that meet expectations for Kakao's mid-to-long-term growth."