Kakao co-CEO resigns after mass outage blocks access to 53 million users

Whon Namkoong, Co-CEO of Kakao Corp. speaks. , during a press conference in Pangyo, South Korea, on Wednesday, October 19, 2022. Namkong has resigned after a widespread outage from Korea’s most popular messaging and social media service. . Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A senior executive of Kakao Corp, the operator of South Korea’s largest mobile messaging company, KakaoTalk, is to step down. His resignation comes after a data center fire that disrupted a major weekend and Disabled services Its messenger has 53 million users around the world.

Co-CEO Namkoong Whon apologized after the outage and said he would resign.

“I feel the heavy burden of responsibility for this accident, and I will step down as CEO and lead the emergency disaster response task force overseeing the aftermath of the accident,” Namkong said at a press conference at the company’s office on the outskirts of Seoul. Wednesday.

“We will do everything we can to restore our users’ trust in Kakao and make sure such incidents don’t happen again,” he said, according to a CNBC translation.

Namkoong was appointed CEO in March, according to the company website. Kakao reported 47.5 million monthly active users in South Korea during the second quarter. This represents more than 90% of South Korea’s population of 51.74 million, as of November 1, 2021.

Co-CEOs Whon Namkoong (left) and Hong Eun-taek (right) bow before leaving a press conference in Pangyo, South Korea on October 19, 2022. Namkoong resigned after a weekend outage for millions of users.

Seong Joon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Read more about technology and cryptocurrency from CNBC Pro

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *