Strike votes passed at all five Kakao entities, including the parent company, casting a fresh shadow over the company's already sliding share price.
The Kakao chapter of the Korean Federation of Chemical, Textile and Food Workers' Unions (Kakao union) announced at a rally at Pangyo Station Plaza on the 20th that strike votes had passed at all five entities — Kakao headquarters, Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, DK Techin and XL Games. Although mediation at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission is still ongoing for Kakao headquarters, the union proceeded with the strike vote in advance.
In June last year, Kakao Mobility staged a partial two-hour strike after collective wage negotiations broke down. However, Kakao headquarters has never gone on strike since the company's founding.
The second mediation between Kakao headquarters' labor and management at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission on the 27th is expected to be a watershed in the dispute. If the four affiliates strike following the vote and Kakao headquarters also secures the right to industrial action through additional mediation on the 27th, a group-wide general strike could expand.
The union argued that grievances have built up among employees due to Kakao management's monopolization of performance rewards. At the rally, the union criticized management, saying, "Management achieved record earnings, but allocated short-term performance bonuses of up to 150% only to executives while shrinking the bonus pool for rank-and-file employees," adding that the company "secured public compensation for outgoing CEOs or appointed them as advisers without any meaningful connection."
According to the industry, the union reportedly demanded 13% to 15% of Kakao's operating profit last year as performance pay. The union dismissed this, saying it was "merely one of the proposals reviewed during negotiations."
Will 'Strike Risk' Compound the Stock Slide?
A prolonged labor-management conflict at Kakao could shake both its share price and corporate value. Kakao shares, which traded around 62,100 won at the start of the year, have plunged about 35% this year and are hovering in the low 40,000-won range. Strike risk could weigh further on the stock. Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities, previously noted, "Over the past month, Samsung Electronics' share price gain was only about half that of its competitors due to uncertainty from strike and bonus issues."
There are also concerns that if Kakao headquarters' labor and management fail to reach a final settlement at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission on the 27th and an actual strike begins, the company's core growth strategy — including AI model development and service upgrades — could be disrupted across the board. Kakao is expanding AI features across key services such as messaging, commerce, content and finance, centered on its proprietary AI model "Kanana." Some observers say new service launches could be delayed if development teams and platform operations staff take collective action.
A Kakao official said, "The company will continue to make efforts during the remaining period to reach an amicable agreement."
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