Yamato: Kakao labor disputes may weaken long-term growth strategy.

Thomas Y. Kwon and Joon Lee of Daiwa Capital expressed that if the upcoming labor dispute at Kakao continues, it could weaken its long-term growth strategy. Analysts at Daiwa Capital wrote in a report that although the South Korean mobile internet company expects the union's planned four-hour strike on Wednesday not to disrupt services, an extended strike could damage its strategy, especially in intelligent AI and mobile services based on messaging applications. They stated that Kakao has been collaborating with OpenAI and Google to accelerate the launch of intelligent AI services. However, they are still concerned that the introduction of intelligent AI services for commercial, payment, and other next-generation platform businesses may be slower than anticipated.