Kakao union moves to block December spin-off vote, warns reform comes first
SEONGNAM, South Korea — Kakao’s labor union said on Wednesday it will campaign to defeat the company’s planned split at a shareholders’ meeting in December,
SEONGNAM, South Korea — Kakao’s labor union said on Wednesday it will campaign to defeat the company’s planned split at a shareholders’ meeting in December, escalating a fight over one of South Korea’s best-known tech groups. The union wants the proposal blocked unless management first answers for past failures and presents a concrete reform plan.
The dispute centers on a board decision from Aug. 21 to carve Kakao into two parts: Kakao AI, a new company built around its artificial-intelligence platform business, and Kakao X, a surviving holding company that would oversee investments and subsidiaries. The spin-off is due for a special resolution at an extraordinary general meeting on Dec. 17.
Union says the split misses the real problem
At a press conference after a rally in Seongnam authorizing a strike at Kakao Bank, the Kakao chapter of the Korean Chemical, Textile and Food Workers’ Union said it would seek support from both large and small shareholders to vote down the plan. The chapter is part of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ chemical and textile workers’ federation.
“A perception is widespread that the company’s claim of enhanced corporate value simply will not hold up in practice,” said Suh Seung-wook, head of the Kakao union chapter. He said Kakao should first put forward a credible reform plan addressing existing problems, not move ahead with a split that offers no concrete safeguards.
Suh added that the union was not rejecting a division in principle. The objection, he said, was to a breakup pursued without a proper diagnosis of what went wrong — or how to fix it. “You can split a company, but you cannot split responsibility,” he said at the rally, according to remarks reported from the event.
Shareholder vote becomes the next battleground
The union now plans to pressure shareholders before the Dec. 17 vote. It specifically intends to court both major and minority holders, and said it wants the National Pension Service to vote against the proposal first. That push raises the stakes for Kakao’s board, which has tied the restructuring to a broader effort around artificial intelligence.
For Kakao, the issue is not just internal politics. Corporate splits and restructuring battles often turn into tests of management credibility, especially in technology companies that depend on trust from employees, investors and users. In this case, the union is framing the fight as one about accountability before growth plans. That message may resonate beyond South Korea, where workers at major tech firms have increasingly challenged management on governance, pay and strategy.
The company has not said the union will stop the process, and the board’s plan remains on track for the December meeting. But the union has made clear it will keep the pressure on. Suh said excluding the controlling shareholder’s stake would still leave enough room to defeat the proposal if other shareholders align against it.
For now, the split is headed into a crowded end-of-year vote. And the union is betting that the question dominating the room will be simple: reform first, restructuring later.
