Kakao Q1 2026 Strong Earnings, AI Investment and Enhanced Shareholder Returns

Consolidated revenue: 1.94 trillion won, operating profit 211.4 billion won (OPM 10.9%) – YoY growth (Q1 2025 revenue not disclosed, annual trend shows increase)
Consolidated net profit 226.8 billion, controlling interest net profit 171.7 billion – turnaround from loss (previous year loss 161.8 billion)
Cash dividend 75 won per share (previous 68 won), 10% of separate adjusted FCF (policy: over 7%)
Share buyback and cancellation: 1,420,723 shares cancelled in Q1 (FY2025 cumulative) – consistent with shareholder return policy
R&D expense 17.1% of revenue, AI partnership with OpenAI, open-sourcing Kanana-2, etc.
Debt ratio 86.8% (year-end 82.5%) – slight increase, still manageable
Discontinued operations loss of 59.7 billion (game segment sale in progress) – one-off
Investments in associates and joint ventures 2.47 trillion, equity method gain from KakaoBank 50 billion, Kakao Games stake classified as held for sale

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