Kakao Talk CEO from South Korea vows to donate half of all his assets for 'social cause'

South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp on February 8 said that its CEO will donate more than half of his 10 trillion won ($8.9 billion) assets. In a message dispatched to Kakao's employees, Kim Beom-Su said that he has pledged to give in charity his wealth valued at over 5.7 trillion won, for social welfare cause. This would include 12.5 million shares of Kakao, the CEO said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. Billionaire Kim’s wealth had recently risen to $7.9 billion, meanwhile, he ranks 332nd on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. A discussion for allocation of the donation is ongoing, and the company will make a formal announcement in days ahead, according to Yonhap. 

KakaoTalk, a free messaging service founded in 2010 has effectively replaced SMS texting in South Korea and is operated by Seoul’s 3/4th of the 50 million population, according to reports. The app dons as many as 10.8 million users, abroad. The 54-year-old, one of the most popular and richest Internet entrepreneurs of South Korea now plans to sell his assets, which, as per the estimates, are 26 percent of the total stakes. Kim’s shares generate third-quarter revenue of 1.1 trillion Won ($926 million), and the tech mogul also makes wealth off the search engine Naver, South Korea’s version of Google. 

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Seoul's 'biggest gainer'

In 2015, Kim merged Kakao Corp. with Daum, South Korea's second-largest online search, forming a $7.4 billion (market cap) firm. His flagship messaging application is installed in more than 90 percent of smartphones across South Korea, and the entrepreneur is dubbed as Seoul’s “biggest gainer”. KakaoTalk CEO will invest his assets for charity fundings under the initiative Giving Pledge, started by Bill and Melinda Gates, signed by at least 200 richest entrepreneurs worldwide. 

Earlier, a former CEO of the airport retail ‘Duty-Free Shoppers’, Chuck Feeney, known for dispensing €1bn on Irish ­projects, donated all his wealth in charity and retired. The 89-year-old endorser of the Giving While Living, known to propagate the monk life among followers, and for making humongous donations via Atlantic Philanthropies (AP), including direct grants to higher education and national research infrastructure funding, was declared officially ‘broke’ after he donated all his riches, according to his company Atlantic Philanthropies official release. 

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