(LEAD) Kakao Q2 net profit down by nearly 90 pct

SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- Kakao Corp., the South Korean internet tech giant, experienced a sharp decline in net profit during the second quarter, but still managed to achieve the highest quarterly operating profit and sales, according to its regulatory filing. The company reported a net profit of 18 billion won (US$12.6 million), which marked a 89.5 percent decrease compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, operating profit increased by 49 percent to 277 billion won, while sales climbed by 3.5 percent to reach 2.09 trillion won. It is important to note that the figures encompass the earnings from Kakao Games, which was effectively transferred to Japan's LY Corp. in May. The flagship platform division, comprising Kakao's ride-hailing service and the Kakao Pay mobile payment service, generated 1.23 trillion won in sales, marking a 17 percent increase from the prior year.

In addition, sales from the content business saw a minor 1 percent rise, totaling 868.2 billion won. Kakao expressed its intention to gradually introduce customers to an agentic artificial intelligence (AI) experience across various daily tasks, such as shopping and reservations, ultimately integrating the service into the company's sustainable growth engine.