SEOUL, South Korea - In a continuation of its financial challenges, Kakao Pay Corp. disclosed a fourth-quarter net loss of 8.4 billion won (US$6.3 million), moving away from the previous year's profit of 33.4 billion won. The company's quarterly financial results, revealed in a regulatory filing, showed an operating loss of 21.5 billion won for the October-December period, a slight improvement over the 22.3 billion won loss recorded a year earlier. However, sales for the quarter experienced a significant increase of 35.2 percent, totaling 166.1 billion won.
According to Yonhap News Agency, The operating loss reported by Kakao Pay was 35.7 percent higher than the average estimate provided by analysts, according to a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data arm of Yonhap News Agency. This underperformance relative to market expectations highlights the challenges Kakao Pay faces in optimizing its operations and achieving profitability amidst intense competition and market dynamics.