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Leidi.com Lotte July 30

According to foreign media reports, Brian Kim, the founder of South Korean Internet giant Kakao and well-known entrepreneur, was arrested in South Korea.

It is reported that Kakao founder Brian Kim, now 58 years old, was born in poverty. His father was an ordinary pen factory worker and his mother was a hotel waitress. The family of eight was so poor that they had to share one bedroom.

Brian Kim was the first of his siblings to go to college, studying at Seoul National University and paying for his education by tutoring. He then went to work at Samsung.

In 1997, Brian Kim left Samsung and used his savings to establish an online gaming portal, offering his online game Hangame to users for free.

In 2006, Brian Kim founded Iwilab, the predecessor of Kakao. Four years later, he launched the Korean communication software KakaoTalk, which was modeled after WhatsApp and became an instant hit in Korea. Kakao also owns the Korean online bank Kakao Pay and the "Korean Alipay" KakaoBank.

In 2021, KakaoBank was listed on the Korea Exchange, raising 2.55 trillion won (about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars) and reaching a market value of 18.5 trillion won (about 16.2 billion U.S. dollars). KakaoBank became the first Korean Internet bank to be listed.

In December 2021, Kakao Pay was listed on the Seoul Stock Exchange in South Korea. The issue price of Kakao Pay was 90,000 won, and the total amount of funds raised was 1.53 trillion won (about US$1.3 billion).

Brian Kim's net worth soared to $14.4 billion, making him the richest man in South Korea. As of July 22, Brian Kim's personal wealth has dropped to about $3.6 billion.

Brian Kim was arrested on suspicion of price fixing in his high-profile takeover battle for K-pop agency SM Entertainment, a deal that was supposed to cement Kakao's dominance in markets such as music, shopping and ride-hailing but instead drew a series of regulatory crackdowns.

South Korean courts have a tradition of sending industry leaders to prison. Chairmen of well-known companies such as Samsung, Hyundai and Lotte have been sentenced to prison, many of whom were pardoned and returned to work a few years later. Samsung's Lee Jae-yong was released in 2021 after years of legal troubles.

LeiDi was founded by media person Lei Jianping. Please indicate the source if reprinting.