Good morning. This is Eleanor from Kakao's CAC IR team. Let's begin Kakao's Q1 2022 earnings presentation. Before presenting the earnings, let me brief you on the organizational changes that happened in February. We established Corporate Alignment Council, or CAC, acknowledging the need for risk management across affiliates as well as to share growth and coexist with our stakeholders. Kakao, the HQ entity, will be led by NK as the CEO, and CAC will be in charge of coordinating and supporting the strategic direction of the entire Kakao affiliate. With that said, with me today are CEO NK of Kakao and Jay Bae, Senior VP of CAC. Please note that the earnings results are consolidated estimates under the KIFRS basis and are subject to change upon the auditor's review. Also, forward-looking estimates are based on assumptions, so actual results may differ from figures included in today's presentation. With that, I will invite our CEO, Namkoong Whon, who will run through Kakao HQ's business highlights. Hello, this is Namkoong Whon. Since today is my first time as Kakao's CEO, why don't I start by talking about the new challenge and the dream of Kakao? Before taking the CEO position, I thought long and hard about Kakao's way forward when I was the head of Future Initiative Center. Today, I will explain how we plan to transform KakaoTalk, which is at the heart of the company. KakaoTalk is a real-time communication service. Users come and use KakaoTalk dozens of times a day with a very clear objective. This works as a strength as well as a limitation at the same time. We have many other services to offer aside from chatting, but once the user finishes communicating with a user, the objective is satisfied, and they immediately leave the app. It's just like commuters rushing out of the subway station to arrive at office on time. Now, for us to overcome this limitation, we need a fundamental change and make KakaoTalk a service to be enjoyed more casually. For example, we are now working on revamping the profile, and I can think of many new concepts, ideas, and business models that we could apply. One can look after their own pet character inside the profile or post messages on how draining the day at office was, to which friends can send heart emojis and messages. We could create a scene where people can send health supplements and air fresheners as a gift. If you look at commerce in particular, there is fierce competition in daily goods, especially on price. Gifts or even purchases made on preference and taste have much room for online penetration. We expect, therefore, such a transition in service to lead to significant earnings in commerce and ads. We plan to introduce elements to KakaoTalk profile, friends, and in-chat segments that can foster lighthearted and sympathetic interactions. As I just mentioned, this will be, for instance, if users can approach Talk in a manner similar to casually going out to meet up with friends after work, I believe KakaoTalk can evolve from being a real-time communication service to an interactive service bound by no particular objective. Another strength and a drawback for KakaoTalk is its strong friend base. Thanks to the network of friends and acquaintances, the chat platform connected 50 million smartphone users in Korea. We need to have another way to expand into the so-called non-friend segment. To do that, we plan to redefine open chatting based on common interest for further activation. It will become a form of community of users who share the same interest and a place for them to come together and have fun. For instance, users listening to IVE's "Love Dive" in Melon can get together in the open chatting, organically forming a community of fans. Actually, we basically provide a link button to people listening to IVE's "Love Dive" on Melon. It can very simply be implemented. Actually, gamers of a guild playing Odin together has created a community which is running quite well. When users are better connected, current form of text-based communication will evolve into one that uses images and videos, and we will be able to make a leap as a service that overcomes the limitations inherent in KakaoTalk. We also hope to connect all communities, including Kakao, and develop Kakao from Korea's platform service connecting friends to one that transcends that limit to expand to the global stage. Korean language-based smartphone users are 50 million, a mere 1% of the global user base of 5 billion. Kakao will transition from this 1% to 99%. We look forward to your support in our journey ahead. Well then, let's move on to the key highlights for Q1. First is the platform business. For the Talk Biz ad on solid growth from Bizboard and KakaoTalk Channel, Q1 revenue was up 32% year-on-year. Driven by the number of advertisers that have more than 100,000 channel friends and higher revenue per channel, Talk Channel revenue was up 52% year-over-year. The number of advertisers, especially using Sync, increased to 18,000, enabling advertisers to gain friends with ease and speed, which is driving activation of the Talk Channel ads. Underpinned by the virtual cycle created by Bizboard Talk Channel and Info Talk, Kakao Bizboard revenue was up 17% year-on-year. Bizboard had scalability and universality, as it can easily expand to any services that generate traffic. Ad solutions proven over the years through the Bizboard will also be offered to off-platform for another momentum for growth. Next is on the TalkBiz business. First, for KakaoTalk Gift, despite high base effect last year, saw Q1 GMV up 32%. Q1 delivery GMV was up 46% year-over-year, accounting for 43% of total Gift GMV. Delivery is receiving good feedback from its loyal user base and on high average order size and profitability. We expect it will make greater contribution to GMV growth and profitability improvements for KakaoTalk Gift. TalkStore GMV was up 22% year-on-year. On top of Talk Deal-driven growth through closer integration with KakaoTalk Ads, TalkStore will evolve into one that plays a role as a sales channel and offer commerce solutions that can onboard and lock in customers. Lastly, on top of existing commerce, which are Gift TalkStore makers and new services including Zigzag and Grip Company, combined total GMV was up 32% year-on-year, reaching KRW 2.3 trillion. This year, we plan to generate synergies across many commerce services within Kakao and activate interactions between ads and commerce so that we may achieve KRW 10 trillion annual combined GMV target mentioned in the previous earnings call. Next is on Q1 performance of key affiliates presented by Jay, SVP of CAC. Hello, this is Jae Bae. I will begin with the story business. Kakao Piccoma has solidified its positioning as the unrivaled No. 1 platform in Japan's digital cartoon market, widening the gap with the No. 2 player. Piccoma's Q1 GMV was up 41% year-on-year to JPY 214.6 billion, and excluding the impact from weak yen, reported 43% year-on-year increase. This year, Piccoma will leverage 2 growth strategies underpinned by its performance from the app-based cartoon market. First is strengthening the web services. Within Japan's digital manga industry, the web-based market is double the size of the app-based market. Equipped with solid content library and active marketing, Piccoma started to see activated inflow of new users into web cartoons. User performance and GMV both increased almost double year-over-year. With Piccoma making a full-fledged entrance into the web service segment, whose size is much bigger, we still believe Piccoma's platform has a big potential within the total cartoon market in Japan. Second is pioneering the new market. With the launch in France last March, we entered the European market, and we see uptrending user performance on the back of proven story IPs from Korea and Japan. Starting the second quarter, we will engage in active marketing and source content that cater to the preference of French people, so as to tap into the experience of consuming digital comics in the French market, where there is high potential for growth. Next is on Q1 performance of Kakao Entertainment. Kakao Entertainment's Q1 combined GMV of the story platform and IP distribution posted 38% year-on-year growth, reporting KRW 231 billion. In Q1, Business Proposal, which is in-house production of KakaoPage's web novel and webtoon, ranked number one in viewership among programs in the same time slot. It's easier to take a proven IP from highly competitive Korean market to the global market. Basically, Korea's story platform works as a testbed of original IPs. KakaoPage last March posted a record high average spend per user supported by its strong IP library. Business Proposal ranked number one in non-English drama segment on one of the global IP or OTTs. Global popularity drove GMV of Kakao Entertainment's story platform in many of the global markets on top of the domestic market. Thanks to the popularity of the drama, original soundtrack by Kakao Entertainment's music label, Flex M, also received raving acceptance from fans around the world. I believe the success of this drama pretty well shows the blueprint for Kakao Entertainment's way forward. The IP of Business Proposal showed its potential to cut across the content value chain from web novel, webtoon, to screen and music, through which the synergies were amplified. Going forward, we will leverage content from various domains built by Kakao Entertainment and the massive IP library to solidify the positioning as a global IP powerhouse. In music, with solid revenue from Melon and a rise in global music revenue from K-pop, the growth trend has been steady. Just as Starship Entertainment's girl group, IVE, is receiving global spotlight, we will continue to explore global super IPs based on which we will activate communication with the fandom and communities worldwide and build on the IP's global influence. To strengthen our sourcing capacity for competitive content IPs in the global market, aside from Piccoma and Entertainment, we made a strategic investment into Kadokawa two years ago in the amount of JPY 16.2 billion, with our holdings valued at JPY 41.2 billion. Kadokawa produces and owns multi-fold content IPs, including manga, animation, and games, and recent release of Elden Ring, developed by FromSoftware, a 100% owned subsidiary of Kadokawa, was a global success. The company is expanding its great influence over the global content industry. We are closely collaborating with Kadokawa in building out global IP alliance as we speak. Next is on mobility. In Q1, Kakao Mobility released new features through the T app and Kakao Navi, recommending the most optimal route and services to users by combining database of mobility data with AI technology. Also last month, we introduced Kakao T Pet pilot service to deal with inconvenience experienced by people with pets in the blind spot, who are in the blind spot of mobility. Kakao Mobility is making investment into future technologies to move beyond mobility. We are investing into digital twin, which will form the core basis for future of mobility by which we would be digitalizing spatial information of the real world, so that we can lead the transition to mobility of service and objects powered by AI. In addition, this year will signal a beginning of a full-fledged global expansion. We're looking for solutions and ways to have people use local mobility services in 120 countries by using just the Kakao T app and connect to support services of global mobility companies to assist foreign visitors. Next, Kakao Pay saw TPV increase across online and offline payment services, and of the financial services, loan brokerage TPV posted salient growth, driving Q1 TPV up 20% year-on-year to KRW 27.2 trillion. Kakao Pay officially launched MTS through Kakao Pay Securities on April and gained approval on digital non-life insurance business as it focuses on digital innovation across all areas of financial services. Also, by strengthening online and offline payment infrastructure, it is fast preparing for solid growth in the post-COVID era. Lastly, Kakao Games. Kakao Games reported strong performance from Taiwan on Odin's release, building up expectations for global expansion. Going forward, in-house developed titles will go global and new triple A titles are lined up for launch, and we expect there will be clear growth in top line and profit. Also, with the rebranding of BORA 2.0 in Q1, we will carry on with the blockchain platform business and secure a growth engine for the future. Q1 financial highlights. Q1 consolidated operating revenue was KRW 1,651.7 billion, down 8% Q-on-Q and up 30% year-over-year. Platform revenue was down 12% Q-on-Q and up 27% year-over-year, reporting KRW 886 billion. Talk Biz revenue was down 3% Q-on-Q and up 23% year-over-year to KRW 461 billion, while ad revenue was impacted by macro backdrop and slow seasonality, which drove ad revenue down Q-on-Q for major ad products. Talk Biz Commerce revenue was flat Q-on-Q, driven by user inflow for KakaoTalk Gift and expanded product lineup for delivery, which led to higher sales per basket. On the back of slow seasonality and slower than expected ad market, Portal Biz revenue was down 13% Q on Q and 3% year-over-year, reporting KRW 114 billion. On slow seasonality for pay and mobility and base effect from one-off revenue in Q4, platform and other revenue was down 22% Q on Q, but driven by steady earnings expansion from mobility and Kakao Pay, revenue was up 52% year-over-year, reporting KRW 311 billion. Content revenue was down 2% Q on Q and up 36% year-over-year, recording KRW 765.7 billion. For the game revenue, due to limited impact from mobile game Odin's Taiwan launch on March 29 and decline in domestic mobile game revenue, there was 11% Q on Q decline, with revenue posting KRW 245.8 billion. On year-over-year basis, there was 89% increase following Odin's release in June last year. Due to the COVID pandemic, concert business revenue fell, while global distribution revenue sustained an uptrend underpinned by solid revenue from Melon platform and aggressive sourcing of music content undertaken to respond to globalization of K-pop music. Music revenue, hence, was flat quarter-on-quarter, while it was up 11% year-over-year to report KRW 204.4 billion. Platform GMV was up, triggered by popularity of Business Proposal in domestic and North America, and with new lineup from Piccoma, Story revenue broke record high quarterly revenue, posting 13% increase quarter-on-quarter and 38% year-on-year, reporting KRW 240.5 billion. Lastly, media revenue came in at KRW 75 billion. Due to the larger fluctuation in revenue, depending on the timing of production and activities of artists, there was decline in production and management revenue, bringing media revenue down 16% Q-o-Q and up 3% Y-o-Y. Next is consolidated basis operating expense and profit. Q1 consolidated operating expense was down 11% Q-o-Q and up 36% Y-o-Y to KRW 1.493 trillion. Key expense items include labor cost. On the back of base effect from bonus payments last quarter and decline in stock-based compensation fell 19% Q-o-Q. On headcount and wage increase, it increased 43% year-on-year to KRW 420 billion. On decline in revenue-linked commissions for ads, games and media, revenue-linked expense was down 10% quarter-over-quarter to KRW 584.4 billion. Increase in story and game content revenue drove up marketing content commissions, posting 19% year-over-year rise. On the back of lower infrastructure and mobility-related commissions paid, outsourcing and infrastructure expense was down 12% quarter-over-quarter. On higher commissions from mobility taxi, there was 42% year-over-year increase to KRW 204.6 billion. We saw global marketing expense increase on the back of Odin's Taiwan launch and Piccoma service launch in France, while marketing spend for other businesses fell, bringing marketing expense down 11% quarter-over-quarter and up 70% year-over-year to KRW 114.6 billion. Marketing spend against revenue was 6.9%. On increase in depreciation and amortization and rise in depreciation expense on lease assets, depreciation expense was up 9% Q-o-Q and 65% Y-o-Y to KRW 130.8 billion. All in all, Q1 operating profit was KRW 158.7 billion, with OPM margin at 9.6%. Next is non-operating revenue and expense. With the change in Dunamu's management control and reclassification of account, there was large sum of disposition gains from equity-method shares amounting to KRW 1,665.3 billion in other revenue. On the back of disposition loss from tangible assets related to lease assets, other expense was KRW 48.4 billion. Financial revenue reported KRW 68.5 billion on dividend from SKT and Dunamu and interest income. Financial expense reported KRW 94.7 billion on its financial expense from non-controlling shares and interest expense. Equity method gain reported 45.5 billion won on profits from KakaoBank and Dunamu that are subject to equity method treatment. Equity method loss was KRW 35.2 billion on the back of losses from companies subject to equity method. Q1 corporate income tax was KRW 438.8 billion, and consolidated net profit was KRW 1,320.8 billion won. CapEx investment breakdown includes server and tangible asset investment of KRW 64.8 billion and intangible asset, including IPR of KRW 39.7 billion, amounting to a total of KRW 104.5 billion in investment activities. Lastly, on Kakao's ESG update. We believe sustainability of our society and that of Kakao must go hand in hand. To have our partners grow together with Kakao and its affiliates, we will be using KRW 300 billion set aside for the coexistence fund for the coming 5 years. Also, in order to implement barrier-free initiative for the benefit of better digital accessibility for the disabled and the aged, as an IT company for the first time in Korea, we appointed a person in charge of digital accessibility. Most recently, we committed to active green initiative to live up to our role in solving environmental issues. Our objective is to go beyond simply reducing our own carbon emissions, but contribute sustainability of the greater society through various services that Kakao offers and achieve net zero by 2040. We look forward to your interest and support as we embark on the challenge of making a better world. Thank you. Time limit, I would like to ask that you ask less than two questions per person. Now the Q&A session will begin. Please press star 1, that is star and one on your phone, if you have any questions. Questions will be taken according to the order you have pressed the number star 1. For cancellation, please press star 2, that is star and 2 on your phone. The first question will be provided by Stanley Yang from JPMorgan. Please go ahead with your question. I would like to first congratulate NK for taking office as the CEO. I understand that you have announced that your efforts will be focused on recovering the stock price of Kakao to KRW 150,000, and I think that a key enhancement in corporate value will be required. What have you set as a key KPI for this endeavor? Second question is, Q1 topline revenue growth was 23%, and compared to the guidance of 42%, I think it significantly underperformed. I would think that sluggishness is due to the external environment. Would like to understand whether you have plans to adjust the guidance? IR 측면에서 얘기가 많이 나와가지고, 주식을 계속 보유하게 되면서 현금이 없게 됐습니다. 추가적으로 주식을 매입할 수 있는 상황이 안 돼서 고민을 하다가, 추가 주식 매입은 못하지만 제가 목표를 설정하고, 좀 다른 방식으로 스스로에게 motivation을 할 수 있는 방향을 고민해서 ₩150,000을 설정을 했습니다. At that time, when at the timing of the purchasing the Kakao shares at the beginning of the year, what happened was that I actually exercised the stock options that I had in my ownership, and I had to pay the taxes, and I actually used up all the cash that I had in my possession, and I paid taxes. At that time, after exercising my stock option rights, I was advised by especially the IR team, that there should not be any additional sales into the market, of the shares that I held. I had to continuously hold on to my holdings. Because I had no cash, I was unable to make any additional purchases. Hence, because I was unable to make any personal purchases of the shares, I felt that I needed to find another way to motivate myself, and that was the background to which I communicated that I will focus on recovering the share price to KRW 150,000. 그리고 모두발언에서 설명드린 카카오톡의 서비스 개편과 글로벌 확장의 가능성이 보여지기 시작한다면 카카오의 기업 가치는 충분히 주가 15만 원 그 이상으로 회복할 수 있다고 믿고 있고, 많은 시일 내에 목표를 달성할 수 있도록 최선의 노력을 다하겠습니다. I believe, as we continue to implement a successful service revamping as well as global expansion, we will be able to recover corporate value of Kakao to above and beyond the 150,000 share price level. I will do my best to bring that, you know, to achieve that in the not too distant future. 두 번째 질문, 광고 매출 가이던스 관련해서 좀 답변을 드리겠습니다. 일분기는 계절적인 비수기 영향뿐만 아니라, 글로벌 금리 인상과 전쟁 장기화 등 시장의 불확실성 확대로 광고 경기가 다소 위축된 시기였습니다. 이분기부터 리오프닝 국면에 접어들면서 패션, 뷰티, 여행과 같은 업종을 중심으로 마케팅 수요가 점차 회복되고는 있지만, 연초 사업 계획 수립 당시 대비 비우호적인 사업 환경이 조성되어 있는 것은 사실입니다. 다만 긍정적인 부분은 현재와 같은 상황에서도 카카오가 전략적으로 대응하고 있는 파트너의 경우 카카오 플랫폼 내에서 오히려 예산을 증액하고 있고, 그 외에도 톡 광고 상품의 scale-up을 위한 준비들이 상반기 내에 진행이 되면서 사업의 fundamental을 계속해서 강화하고 가고 있습니다. 이처럼 카카오 광고의 체력과 성장성은 여전히 견조하기 때문에, 추후 광고 경기 회복세가 나타난다면 빠르게 성장세를 보일 수 있을 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. Hello, this is Jae. Responding to your question about our advertisement revenue guidance, it is true that there was slow seasonality impact from Q1 as well as on the back of rate hikes and the geopolitical war that is ongoing, uncertainties have been heightened. Hence, overall economic cycle was very sluggish, that is true. As we enter into Q2, and with the reopening of the economies, we are seeing recovery of marketing demand from segments including beauty, fashion, and travel. I do admit that the overall operational backdrop is quite unfavorable compared to when we first set up our beginning of the year business plan. Now, having said that, there are some positives as well. If you look at our partners, they are actually increasing the budgets they're setting aside for use on the Kakao platform. Also, there's a lot of preparations that's ongoing to further bring an improved scale or bring improvement on the Talk Ad product. All of these efforts were undertaken in the first half of the year, and with that effort, we believe that the fundamentals are becoming much more stronger. Also, considering the fundamentals of the KakaoTalk Ad and its growth potential is still quite solid, we believe that once the advertisement economic cycle recovers, we will be able to resume a very steep growth. 네, 연간 전체적인 매출과 영업이익에 대해서도 간단히 설명을 드리면, 올해에도 카카오는 플랫폼과 콘텐츠의 사업 전 영역에서 고른 성장을 이어나갈 것으로 예상하고 있습니다. 새로운 성장 모멘텀 확보를 위해서도 신규 사업도 적극적으로 추진 중에 있습니다. 방금 전에 말씀드린 것처럼 국내 기업들의 사업 환경에 부정적인 매크로 영향이 있고, 이에 따라서 1분기엔 광고 등 일부 사업에 예상 대비 부진한 성과를 기록했습니다. 단기적으로 이러한 외부 환경 변수가 사업 성장성을 둔화시킬 수는 있으나, 현재 카카오 전반적인 사업 본연의 경쟁력은 지속적으로 강화되고 있기 때문에 연간 전체로는 견고한 성장을 이어나갈 수 있을 것으로 보고 있습니다. 특히 콘텐츠 사업의 적극적인 글로벌 확장으로 해외 매출이 전년 대비 40% 이상 성장할 것으로 예상하고 있습니다. In terms of the annual guidance for revenue and operating profit, this year, we expect a very balanced growth from our platform business as well as our content business, and we will be securing new growth momentum through our new businesses as well. It is true that there was some negative macro environmental backdrop, and that had negatively impacted many companies. Actually, that is one of the reasons behind the sluggish performance we've seen in Q1. From a short-term perspective, these external factors may slow down the growth, potential growth of our business. Because the overall competitiveness of our business as a whole is strengthening, we expect we will be able to continue on with solid growth. Also through a very aggressive global expansion for our content business, we expect our overseas revenue to actually go up by more than 40% on a year-over-year basis. Now, in terms of operating profit, because the growth rate of the key businesses under Kakao is still quite steep, we expect very positive top line expansion. We also need investment in order for us to solidify our positioning in the global market. We expect internally that we will be able to sustain a double-digit operating profit margin, but our objective is to bring a balanced growth between growth and investment. Next question. The following question will be presented by Soyoon Shin from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead with your questions. I would like to ask two questions. First, CEO NK, you talked a lot about the changes to be implemented for KakaoTalk. For each of the tabs in KakaoTalk, can you explain what those changes would look like and what impact overall from a business perspective this will have? Is this the main driver behind the 40% growth that you've shared in terms of your TalkBiz growth for the future? It seems like this is an important timing for you to make investments for your global growth when it comes to KakaoPage. Would like to know what your plans are in terms of monetizing this business in the global market, and also can you share with us what the margin profile is? For domestic, you're already at double digit, but would the overseas business also show a similar uptrend trajectory in terms of the OP margin? That was a very detailed and specific question regarding the changes that's upcoming in each of the tabs. I think it'll be helpful if I share with you the process that landed us where we are. About a month and a half ago, we had a workshop engaging all of the executives, and we thought as to how we could better evolve our view and shopping tab within the KakaoTalk. In terms of the performance, we had underperformed our expectations, so we wanted to really find ways as to how we could bring about a bigger growth. I think what's very important is defining the problem itself. Quite some time ago, I was riding a bicycle, and I started feeling a wrist pain. I put ointment on it, and I did many things, but I went to the hospital, and they told me that the problem was not my wrist, but my high blood pressure. As this analogy shows, defining the problem is most important. 저희가 뷰탭이나 쇼핑탭의 트래픽이 저희 기대보다 높지 않았던 이유는 저희 이용자들의 특성에 따라서 그런 현상이 발생된다라고 저희는 내부적으로 판단을 했습니다. 그리고 그 이용자의 특성이 바로 아까 말씀드렸던 목적성 커뮤니케이션에 있다고 판단했습니다. 카카오톡을 이용하는 이용자들은 카카오톡 앱을 켤 때 이미 자기가 수신한 메시지를 확인하거나 누구에게 메시지를 보내거나 하려는 목적이 분명히 있습니다. The view tab and shopping tab traffic level was not up to the expectations that we had had. Internally, our discussions and conclusion was that that is due to the characteristics that's displayed by the users of KakaoTalk, meaning they are bound by an objective when they use KakaoTalk as a communication tool. Basically, users would launch a KakaoTalk app in order to check the message that they receive or to send a message to other people, so it is bound by a specific objective. 그래서 굳이 비교를 하자면은 뭐 출근을 하는 그런, 출근 시간이 아홉 시인데 한 여덟 시 오십 분쯤 전철역에서 나와서 막 뛰어가는 그런 분들에게 우리가 광고를 하고 또 커머스 비즈니스를 하는 그런 현상이랑 비슷하다고 저희는 판단을 했거든요. 다만 우리가 워낙 많은 오천만 트래픽을 커버하고 있기 때문에 그 바쁜 와중에서도 우리가 이러한 광고 퍼포먼스나 커머스의 퍼포먼스를 이룰 수 있었다고 판단을 하고 있습니다. 하지만은 이렇게 바쁘게 가시는 분들이 저희가 비즈니스를 영위하기에 딱 좋은 상황은 아니라는 것을 저희가 문제로 정의를 하였고요. 그에 따라서 목적성 커뮤니케이션이 아닌 비목적성 인터랙션, 가벼운 인터랙션을 저희 서비스의 주요 맥락으로 확장하는 것으로 전략을 정했습니다. Just to cite an example, it's like 9:00 AM or 8:50 in the morning and you're rushing to your office and you've just landed at a subway station and you're very busy and rushing to the office. It is at that point in time, we are pushing ad and commerce to this user. We were able to bring advertisement and commerce performance because of the extensive coverage that we have. We have 15 million people in our coverage. Even if these users were busy, we were still able to bring performance. In the perspective of the business that we are engaged in, I mean, this is not the most optimal time for our user base because they're always quite busy. We felt that it would be important for us to expand the key context under which the users were using our services to one that is not bound by an objective, where the people could just very casually engage in an interaction, and we've defined that as our strategy forward. 다시 탭으로 돌아가서 말씀드리면 저희가 뷰탭이나 지금 쇼핑탭을 개선해서 문제를 해결한다기보다는 오히려 저희가 가지고 있는 프로필 탭, 친구 탭, 대화 탭에 가벼운 인터랙션적인 요소들을 추가를 해서 유저들이 좀 여유로운 상황에서 카카오톡을 재미있게 이용하는 그런 서비스로 이용의 목적을 확장하는 데에 우리의 해법이 있다라고 판단을 하고 있습니다. 그래서 그를 통해서 우리의 유저들을 출근길 유저가 아니라 퇴근 후에 여유롭게 저녁 약속을 향해 가거나 좀 여유 생활을 즐기는 상황 속의 맥락으로 우리 서비스가 이용될 수 있도록 서비스의 구조를 확대할 예정입니다. It's not necessarily bringing improvements and enhancements to the current view tab or shopping tab. It is more of adding an interactive element to the profile, to the friends list, and to the chat tab. Basically, we want to be able to provide a solution where people can take their sufficient time and to have fun and entertainment as it interacts based off of our platform. We want to be able to expand the contexts under which the users would be using our services. What we want is we don't want users who are always rushing during the commuting hours, but we want people to take ample time to enjoy different elements that Kakao platform can offer. 네, 이러한 시도는 사실 기존에도 있었는데요. 예를 들면 선물하기의 맥락이 기존 생일 중심에서 친구의 주요 생애 주기와 감정에 대한 선물 맥락으로 확대될 수 있고, 그럼에 따라서 자연스럽게 비즈니스 기회도 높아질 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. 또한 카카오톡의 오픈 채팅을 활성화시켜서 앞으로 관심사 기반의 서비스를 더욱 확장하겠다는 계획을 말씀드렸는데, 오픈 채팅은 공통된 관심사를 가진 비즈인 유저들이 모이는 놀이터와 같은 개념이기 때문에 현재 지인 간의 프라이빗한 대화방과는 달리 자유도 높고 재미있는 콘텐츠가 오고 갈 수 있어서 이 안에 유연한 비즈니스 모델을 시도해 볼 수 있을 것 같습니다. We actually have an actual experience or a prior example, which is a KakaoTalk Gift. Originally, when KakaoTalk Gift first started, it was for birthdays only, but then the context under which this product was used was expanded to just gift friends, depending on certain life cycles in their lives or depending on the feelings that they're feeling. I think as we've experienced from KakaoTalk Gift, we will be able to see a heightened opportunity in terms of business as we go forward. We also want to activate the use of the open chatting feature in KakaoTalk and want to expand the use of KakaoTalk based on people's common interest. Because open chatting is like a playground where people who don't know one another all come together under a common interest. It's like a playground providing high level of freedom and also supporting an interaction of very fun and entertaining content. I think we can try many different flexible business models. The second question on Kakao Entertainment, in 2022, our foremost priority will be placed on global market expansion. Looking at North America, basically we will maximize synergies across multi-content platform network, including Tapas, Radish, and Wuxiaworld, and by 2024, our objective is to become a number one story IP provider in the North American market. Through Kakao Tapas, we will expand on the original IP provision, especially the IPs that have already been proven by the Korean users, and we expect that will accelerate growth going forward. For Radish, we will once again notch up the spectrum of story IP from a reading web novel to a listening web novel. Wuxiaworld has a strength against the male population, the contents that cater to their preference and we will also try to increase original IP provision to this platform and will really kick-start further growth in North America. Also in ASEAN, our strategy will be focused on the original IPs and our objective is to become an unrivaled number one provider in Taiwan and in Thailand. On a revenue basis in Japan, we are also once again a number one provider in the digital app market in Japan, and supported by a very strong content library and through renewals and marketing, we were able to bring year-over-year more than double fold growth. Last March with the Piccoma service launch in France, we've also made our first full-fledged step into the European market. It's only been about a month since its initial launch, but I can tell you that we are well on target. In regards to the profitability of our global business, it will take some time until we see some visible financial results from this global expansion and investment into content. Our objective is to make sure that we very quickly stabilize and bring up the GMV level and through the organizational, I guess, readjustment to the North American entities as well as by efficiencies and cost spending, we will do our best to bring about profit improvement in an ASAP basis. We think that in terms of the guidance, we will be able to see positive numbers come in, starting next year from our global businesses. Next question, please. The next question will be provided by Seong Jong-hwa from NH Investment & Securities. Please go ahead with your questions. Thank you for the opportunity to ask a question. Congratulations on your appointment as CEO. There were two questions, but one of them seemed to have been answered, so I will ask just one question. This has also been asked a few times, and it is a follow-up question. You said You said that the annual guidance for Talk Biz this year is similar to last year, around 40%, but there was no answer to the question. answer to the question. First of all, are you going to maintain this 40% guidance, or are you going to adjust it in consideration of the current situation? Last year, the YoY growth continued to weaken every quarter, but this first quarter, due to various circumstances, it weakened to around 20%, up to 23%. If you think about it simply, if this year's YoY is in the early 40s%, then in the second quarter, especially in the second half, there is a story that growth has to explode significantly. In a little more specific, in other words, then in the second quarter, especially in the second half, there is a story that growth has to explode significantly. In a little more specific, in other words, internal business innovation or planning new businesses, based on internal confidence, even in this situation, if there is no need to adjust the guidance, please explain the specific plan and some details about the company. Last time in our IR check, our Talk Biz advertising revenue, among the top channels, is expected to be revolutionized by integrated payment or integrated shopping cart e-commerce-type channel advertising in the second half, and now in the second half, Talk channel revenue is said to have internal confidence that it will exceed business revenue. Are these the reasons why you are maintaining the guidance in this situation? Please give me a clear and specific answer to this question. I would like to first congratulate NK for taking office as the CEO. My question actually is a follow-up to the previous question. If you mentioned, there was a question about the year-over-year guidance on Talk Biz that it's currently in the low 40% level. I don't think you answered this question. Are you going to maintain the guidance or would you be changing and adjusting the guidance? Because in order for you to achieve the 40% growth, that means since the growth was quite low in Q2, we are going to have to see a very explosive growth come through in Q2 as well as in the second half of the year. Can you share with us what, where this confidence actually is from in terms of any business innovations you are planning or any new business endeavors? That would be helpful if you could provide some color. In the previous IR meetings, we've heard of the integrated payment systems and integrated basket models for the Talk Channel in the second half to be introduced, and the Talk Channel revenue is going to actually surpass that of the business revenue. In light of all of these factors, would you be keeping to the previous guidance? Yes, we are closely monitoring the market in terms of the short term, because there are, you know, short-term uncertainties. It may seem like we're a bit aggressive, but I think the details could be shared by Jae. Yes. Q1 Bizboard performance was a bit challenged, but still it is in the positive domain. If you look at our Talk message growth, it was around 50%, which includes Talk channel and notification or Info Talk. If you look at the trend, basically the advertisers who experienced high efficiency of the Talk channels have continuously adopted Bizboard and Sync, and we are now seeing Talk channels with more than 100,000 channel friends have actually gone up in numbers quite significantly. We are looking forward to an improved top line revenue per each of the Talk channel. Out of the Talk Biz segment, the commerce or the transactional type of business had a lower performance. As we go into the second half, as we strengthen and beef up our product offerings and really connect well to the Talk Store strategies, we can expect better performance to come through as we enter into the second half of the year. Also, if we explain a little more about the Talk Biz business, if the existing Gift was a context of giving and receiving gifts between acquaintances in real life, recently, the context of giving and receiving gifts between non-acquaintances in open chat rooms where people with similar interests and specific topics are gathered is increasing. If If giving gifts to acquaintances was a form with a specific purpose on a special day, giving gifts in open chat rooms includes elements such as pre-scheduled gifts, random games, and so on, and it is observed that gift giving is happening even if it is not a special day. The proportion of transactions is still low, but when viewed in the strategic direction of KakaoTalk expanding from an acquaintance-based to a non-acquaintance-based, we expect that this gift giving between non-acquaintances will drive the overall growth of the Gift business. day, giving gifts in open chat rooms includes elements such as pre-scheduled gifts, random games, and so on, and it is observed that gift giving is happening even if it is not a special day. The proportion of transactions is still low, but when viewed in the strategic direction of KakaoTalk expanding from an acquaintance-based to a non-acquaintance-based, we expect that this gift giving between non-acquaintances will drive the overall growth of the Gift business. Now, of the Talk Biz, basically, if you take a look at Kakao Gift, in the past, it was mostly giving friends a gift, but recently we are now seeing more activated activities under the open chat, where people with common interests who share a common topic come together. We see a lot of occasions where people are giving gifts to people who are not their friends. For friend gifting, it was on special days, anniversary days and for special purposes, but inside the open chatting, there is more game element that's been applied to it, through random games or first come first gift basis. Even if it's not a special anniversary day, we are seeing people giving and receiving gifts. Although right now the GMV mix is still quite low, in the light of the fact that this is a direction that we are going to go forward, I believe that overall, from a mid to long-term perspective, this type of a gifting practice, you know, between people who do not know one another, who've met in the open chatting will in the end really drive the total GMV for Gift. Moving on to the next question. The following question will be presented by Kim Jin-Goo from Kiwoom Securities. Please go ahead with your questions. Yes. Hello. I'm Kim Jin-goo from Kiwoom Securities. First of all, First of all, congratulations to NK and the new management team. I would like to ask two questions. The first is, two questions. The first is, could you please tell me how you are specifically planning the Metaverse business and if there is any separate investment plan related to the Metaverse business? The second is, for the The second is, for the Story business, could you please tell me how you are planning the annual production budget and investment plan for the visualization business and what is the annual visualization pipeline index and how you will approach the distribution platform access strategy? Thank you. Yes. Would like to also congratulate NK and the new management team. My first question is, can you share with us what your vision is for the metaverse business? What is the separate business investment plan put in place at this point? Second question, for your story business, in order to bring the IPs onto the screen, what is the amount of, you know, production size and the investment that you have set aside for this? Also, can you share with us what the pipeline is and what your strategies are for distribution of such films and dramas? The reason we are focusing on metaverse is not because of new technological changes, but because we have judged that the era has come when the way users are connected online can change dramatically. Kakao's metaverse is defined as a virtual world where I live as someone other than myself in KakaoTalk and communicate with others as someone else. I think that we can fundamentally change the way users are connected or communicate, based on various digital forms such as colorful avatars, not necessarily 3D characters, 2D sound, image, text, etc. inside KakaoTalk. I have seen a Netflix drama called Black Mirror before. In that Netflix drama, they create a new character, and this character. Now, the reason why we are placing our interest behind metaverse is not because this is a new technology, but this is a fundamental change in way in which we connect the users online. To Kakao, metaverse is all about living and communicating as a different identity in a virtual world where people are connected. You don't necessarily need to use any, you know, flamboyant avatars or 3D tools. Even with a 2D sound image and text and many other digital attributes, we can bring about a fundamental transformation in the way people communicate with one another and connect with one another. I saw a Netflix drama called Black Mirror, and what this drama showed was that this person who died, there was huge amount of SNS text that was left behind, which was all collected and used to create a character with the same mannerisms in which that person spoke. Kakao really has this massive amount of text data, which is an important digital attribute, and that those texts can be actually utilized to create a personality. As such, you could see that compared to 3D information, these types of digital attributes and elements could be considered more important. Now, having said that, the inherent limitation that KakaoTalk has, that it is a very private friends-only text-based services. We believe that open chatting is more appropriate for it to really house the vision that KakaoTalk has when it comes to metaverse. Going forward, we want to see open chatting evolve into a much more extended space where the users can be supported in terms of all the social, cultural, and economic activities that they engage in. If you look at the very essence of what metaverse is, it's very important to have that metaverse to have a structure that best support the new economic activities that take place across the users. Users would be making content, communicating with one another, and engaging in transactions whereby they can actually make money. That is the system of metaverse, and that's the key of this B2B2C structure. A good example is that we even now see on open chatting, a chat room where people share stock price-related information. We could even think of a case in this new world where the head or the operator of that chat room will turn that into a paid services. That is something that is an example of what we may be able to see. Now for Kakao Entertainment media business supported by the writers, the artists, and the producers, and story IPs, our objective is to maximize synergies across this and really come up with produce and plan content that best befit the needs of the platform and the viewership. We will leap as a studio with all these capabilities as we go forward. The market and some segments have been concerned about the recent sluggishness in OTT platform growth. The growth in Asian market is continuing, and there is high level of interest by these OTTs, global OTTs, on K content, which have recently released many, you know, triple A titles recently. Kakao Entertainment actually has all the story IPs, the top creators and artists. Some of the examples are, if you look at, one of the drama that is, currently being aired through SBS titled Again My Life, is currently under preparations for it to be provided to Netflix. There is also a work being done on Korean remake version of Money Heist, as well as Narco-Saints, which is being directed by Director Yoon Jong-bin. There is about 15 different lineup of dramas and movies that are in the pipeline, and those will be able to be showcased to the viewership, global viewers in the near future. Yes, due to the time constraint, this will be the last question we'll take. The last question will be presented by Lee Suji from Merrill Lynch Securities. Please go ahead with your questions. I would like to ask one or two questions relating to regulatory risk. With the change in the administration in Korea, there may be some changes in the political and regulatory landscape. There is strong global trend on regulating the big tech companies. There is also a mention of making it obligation to provide a outlink for the news articles. Anyhow, can you provide us with an overall, I guess, picture, overall take with regards to how you're going to respond to such regulatory environment? Also in the context of regulation, Kakao Mobility is cited quite often. We've seen higher demand for Kakao T Black and Venti during the COVID period. I guess it would be helpful if you could provide some explanation regarding regulation. 인수위원회에서 국정 과제를 발표하며 플랫폼 분야의 자율 규제 방안 및 필요 최소한의 제도적 장치 마련을 하겠다고 밝힌 바 있습니다. 이와 함께 국회에서는 지난해 발의된 온라인 플랫폼법 규제 법안이 계속해서 계류 중인 것으로 알고 있습니다. 향후 정책 동향에 대해서는 계속해서 주의 깊게 살펴보도록 하겠습니다. 플랫폼의 사회적 영향력이 확대되고 있는 만큼 플랫폼 기업의 상생과 책임 강화가 필요하다는 것을 알고 있고, 계속해서 정책 추진 동향을 주시하며 결정되는 사항에 대해 의무를 충실히 이행할 계획입니다. 또한 인수위에서 발표한 자율규제 방안과 국회에 계류 중인 온라인 플랫폼 법안은 유심히 살펴보고 있는데, 이와 함께 카카오가 디지털 경제의 가속화와 The new incoming transitional committee for the Presidential Transitional Committee have announced some of the key national priorities and have said that they will come up with self-regulation as well as have a minimal level of institutional mechanisms in place for the platform industry. Last year, there was Online Platform Regulation Bill, which is currently pending in the Congress. We would keep a very close watch on how the policy direction goes in the future. It is true that as the social influence of platforms are increasing, the responsibility and accountability of platform companies have become much more grave. We will once again follow how the policy plays out, and we will fully comply with the obligations that are placed upon us. Well, once again, we're closely monitoring how things will happen in terms of self-regulation and the Online Platform Regulation Bill. We at Kakao are clearly aware of the fact that our responsibility and accountability as a member of a community is actually growing, especially in the age of accelerated digital economy, as well as in the world of post-pandemic. We are fully adhering to the Fair Contract Guidelines that we have committed to up to date, and we will continue to make sure that we play our part and live up to our social responsibilities in complying with all the fair trade-related requirements. Also in terms of the outlink and the news article-related policies, nothing has yet been confirmed. In terms of our expansion strategies for mobility and ESG aspect, first looking at Kakao T and looking at some of the measures, the number of calls completed for the taxi business was up by 38%, year-over-year, and Kakao T Blue fleet has increased to 37,000. As you've mentioned, supported by a greater platform dependency as well as higher operating leverage, the mix of premium call usage is going up. In terms of the global strategies, we are continuously exploring new opportunities. We've made strategic equity investment into Splyt, a UK-based mobility platform. We will continue to strengthen our global capabilities through investment and through collaboration with other global platform companies. After Q2, once the COVID situation is somehow placed under control and as more people go overseas for travel, we are looking to provide global roaming services, providing support to people going to, you know, one of the 20 different countries around the world and have them just use Kakao T app for mobility needs. Long-term perspective, we would like to bring our existing mobility business into the local markets, develop them into a platform, utilize the database as well as technology to further expand our business domain across passenger logistics and services and supported by digital twin and data analytics and demand forecasting, we would like to help our partners innovate. TMS, as well as SaaS, are the types of technology products that we will be offering to provide the most optimal logistical routes to bring about a digital transition and innovation in logistics and provide the technology that's required by our partners. Also, we plan to expand collaboration with the taxi operators and designated driver business operators, and improve transparency by opening up and sharing our algorithms when it comes to vehicle placement. The KRW 50 billion of a fund that's been set aside for mobility inclusive program will come under full operation, starting this year. We will build out a green mobility in terms of using EVs for the taxi as well as for faster deployment of EV across our user base. Thank you. This brings us to the end of the earnings presentation of Kakao for Q1 2022. Thank you to analysts and investors for joining us this morning. Thank you very much.