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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] SEOUL, South Korea – October 22, 2025 – Meritz Securities has revised down its target price for Kakao Corp. from ₩86,000 to ₩74,000, citing weaker advertising performance expectations following what analysts described as a “misstep” in the recent KakaoTalk app update.
According to analyst Lee Hyo-jin, while investor sentiment has begun to recover after founder Brian Kim was acquitted in his first trial on market manipulation charges, Kakao’s actual service performance will be the key determinant going forward.
“Kakao has announced plans to integrate ChatGPT into its platform,” Lee said, “but with growing ad fatigue among users, implementing such features effectively in the short term will be difficult.”
Meritz also reduced its estimate for KakaoTalk Bizboard’s daily revenue from ₩1.38 billion to ₩1.22 billion for the fourth quarter, reflecting lower ad engagement expectations.
Kakao shares closed 2.25% lower at ₩60,900 on Tuesday following the revised outlook.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
