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CautionConfidence mediumCoverage 100%Evidence strong10-year outlook: Caution

(주)카카오

Decline signals need careful validation before joining.

Verdict
Caution
Signal score
43/100
Evidence coverage
100%
Red flags
4
Generated
7/2/2026

Overall opinion

The report gives Kakao a 43/100 overall score with medium confidence. The 3–10 year employment outlook is operationally stable but not comfortable for a long stay: financial signals are strong, with positive operating profit, clean audit opinion, and improved 2025 results, but employment stability is scored very weakly and employee-experience risk is high. Recent NPS data shows more leavers than joiners over the 12-month period and multiple negative net-change months, while reported overtime-limit, wage-payment, work-hour bookkeeping, and union strike-vote issues raise direct workplace-risk concerns. Evidence quality is strong and no major data gaps are listed, so the main decision issue is not missing data but whether the specific team has avoided these labor and retention pressures.

Immediate red flags
  • Employment trend is weak.
  • High severity wage risk: Labor authority reportedly found overtime-limit violations and unpaid or delayed wages.
  • High severity compliance risk: Reported double bookkeeping of work hours to conceal weekly 52-hour rule violations.
  • Medium severity reputation risk: Union strike vote passed at Kakao and four related entities amid labor-management conflict.

Employment outlook

A job-seeker view of whether this looks like a healthy 3-10 year place to join.

Company state
Stable
Resource pressure
Medium
Career upside
Reasonable
Peak to now
None
Employee experience risk
High

Company trajectory looks stable; confidence is high.

Resource pressure is present and should be validated.

Employee-experience risk is high enough to verify before accepting.

Outlook drivers

  • Company state: stable signal
  • Peak-to-now decline: none visible
  • Resource pressure: medium
  • Employee risk: high
  • Career upside: reasonable

Next checks

  • Ask what changed since peak and how recovery is measured.
  • Use interviews to confirm the report pattern still holds.
  • Review the report's underlying sources for the original checks.

Score by category

This chart shows which dimensions pull the score up or down.

Category drill-down

Open a category to see the exact reasons used by the report.

  • Operating profit is positive.
  • Audit opinion is clean.
  • Web financial signal is positive.
  • Headcount is large enough to reduce single-team risk.
  • NPS headcount declined for 3 consecutive months.
  • More people left than joined over the last 12 months.
  • More people left than joined in most recent NPS months.
  • Recent NPS history shows net employee loss.
  • NTS/Hometax status: 계속사업자.
  • The company has operated for at least five years.
  • NTS/Hometax tax type: 부가가치세 일반과세자.
  • High severity wage risk: Labor authority reportedly found overtime-limit violations and unpaid or delayed wages.
  • High severity compliance risk: Reported double bookkeeping of work hours to conceal weekly 52-hour rule violations.
  • Medium severity reputation risk: Union strike vote passed at Kakao and four related entities amid labor-management conflict.
  • Web research found positive market momentum.
  • Web research found negative market momentum.
  • IP/R&D public signal is recorded as context only.
  • Hiring velocity is moderate.
  • Official average annual salary is 1.1억 원.
  • Web hiring signal is moderate.

Decision notes

Positives

  • Financial health is the strongest category: operating profit is positive, the audit opinion is clean, and 2025 revenue and operating profit are reported as record highs.
  • The company is an ongoing business and has operated for at least five years, reducing basic continuity risk.
  • Hiring activity is moderate, with third-party job boards showing active 2026 postings.
  • Career upside has some support from moderate hiring velocity and official IP/R&D signals, including 79 KIPRISPlus IP records.
  • Employer-quality proxy is not weak overall, supported by moderate hiring and an official average annual salary figure of KRW 110 million.

Risks

  • Employment stability is the weakest area, with an employment category score of 0/100 and NPS data showing 655 leavers versus 618 joiners over the recent 12-month period.
  • Recent headcount signals are mixed-to-negative: the report flags at least three consecutive months of headcount decline and more people leaving than joining over the recent period.
  • Employee-experience risk is high because labor authority findings reportedly included overtime-limit violations and unpaid or delayed wages.
  • Compliance risk is high due to reports of double bookkeeping of work hours to conceal weekly 52-hour rule violations.
  • Labor-management risk is material: a union strike vote reportedly passed at Kakao and four related entities amid conflict.

Next checks

  • Ask the hiring manager directly about overtime expectations, time-tracking practices, and whether any wage or delayed-payment issues have affected the target organization.
  • Ask whether the role is replacement headcount or new headcount, and why the previous person left if it is a backfill.
  • Request recent team-level turnover, internal transfer, and workload information rather than relying only on company-wide averages.
  • Check whether the specific business unit is involved in the reported labor-management conflict or affected by the strike-vote situation.
  • For a 10-year stay, prioritize teams with stable staffing, transparent work-hour controls, and clear promotion or mobility paths.

Source mix

Available11
Missing0
Not configured0
Error0