In May 2021, the American business magazine, Forbes declared the founder and chairman of Kakao, Kim Beom-soo the richest man in Korea. According to the magazine, as of May 2021, the net estimated worth of Kim is around US$11.2 billion. Kakao is one of the prominent Internet company in South Korea and was founded 11 years ago in the year 2010 as Kakao Inc. On 23rd June 2021, that is, on Wednesday, the share price of the company went up by 110% in 2021, thus adding $5.6 billion more to the present net worth of Kim
Thus, Kim has replaced the former richest person of Korea, Seo Jung-jin from the position of Korea’s richest person by $3 billion. At present, the estimated net worth of Kim is $16.2 billion on the list of Real-time billionaires. However, the journey of becoming the richest man in Korea has not been easy for Kim. Kim who is now 55 years old, was born on 8th March 1966 in one of the most underprivileged areas of Seoul. Kim has a hard time studying, as his father used to work as a worker in a pen factory while his mother was a hotel servant.
Out of the five siblings, he was the third child of his parents and lived with his grandmother along with other siblings in a one-bedroom apartment. Kim has done his Bachelors and Masters degree in engineering from the Seoul National University. However, to take admission to the college, Kim offered private coaching and also preserved money by skipping meals. In March 2021, a campaign named, “Giving Pledge” was launched by the world richest person, Bill Gates, Melind Gates together with Warren Buffett.
The purpose of this pledge was to motivate the affluent people to give at least half of their money. Kim was also one of the many influential and rich people who signed the Giving Pledge. Well, Kim’s first venture was an online game developer, Hangame, which later got consolidated with the search company which is now popularly known as Naver, one of the biggest internet giant in Korea. Kakao was founded by Kim in the year 2010 and later in the year 2015, the company purchased a social media company of America, Path that ultimately became a popular hit in Indonesia country.
The popular Internet company of South Korea, however, gained more popularity from Kakao Talk, which is an instant messaging free mobile app. By the end of May 2017, the Kakao Talk app registered 220 million app and an active 47 million users. At present, Kakao is one of the top most influential business group in South Korea, besides Hyundai, Samasung, and LG. Undoubtedly, the wuhan virus pandemic created a huge demand for online services which ultimately became one of the important determinants in the expansion of Kakao. Stay tuned with us, for more such news.
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