Kakao Games (293490.KQ) said on the 24th that it approved two shareholder-value measures at an extraordinary general meeting, and that executives including co-CEOs Kim Tae-hwan and Lee Si-woo bought a combined 500 million won ($363,000) worth of its own shares.
At the meeting, held at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, the company approved a plan to hold and dispose of treasury shares and a measure to cover accumulated losses and transfer capital reserves to retained earnings. The vote follows the company's cancellation of 500,000 treasury shares in July as part of a long-term shareholder-return policy.
Kakao Games plans to use about 350,000 treasury shares remaining after the cancellation to fund a restricted stock unit (RSU) program for employees. The RSU vesting conditions will be built around medium- to long-term business performance and targets tied to corporate and shareholder value, so that employee compensation is linked to the company's sustained growth and to enhancing shareholder value. The board will finalize the details of the program.
The company will also reduce about 1.54 trillion won ($1.12 billion) in capital reserves and transfer the amount to retained earnings, to be used as funding for medium- to long-term shareholder-return measures. In addition, co-CEOs Kim Tae-hwan and Lee Si-woo and Chief Financial Officer Shin Kwon-ho bought a combined 500 million won worth of treasury shares, reflecting what the company described as continued shareholder-focused management.
"We will pursue joint growth in shareholder value and corporate value, and continue to carry out shareholder-return policies over the medium and long term," Lee said.
Separately, Namkoong Hun, CEO of Aiz Entertainment and a former head of Kakao Games, said on personal social media that day that he had bought a 1% stake in Kakao Games on the open market. "With Kakao's sale making Line the largest shareholder while Kakao and Tencent remain major shareholders, Kakao Games has a distinctive structure, and through that strength it will meet another timely opportunity to grow," he said, explaining the reason for the purchase.
