Kakao Mobility announces plan to overhaul commission system amid monopoly criticism

Kakao Mobility Corp., the operator of the nation's leading taxi-hailing service, said Wednesday it plans to overhaul its commission system amid growing criticism over the company's purported monopolistic market practices.

Kakao Mobility said in a press release that it plans to meet with the taxi industry in the near future to collect opinions regarding its taxi hailing commission system for the company's Kakao T service.

The announcement was made hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol raised concerns of monopolistic market practices, especially those in the banking and taxi-hailing sectors.

In particular, Yoon pointed out concerns over business practices by Kakao Mobility, alleging the company as having misused its market dominance.

Kakao Mobility said that it acknowledges the various concerns that have been recently raised.

The company is a mobility subsidiary of South Korea's tech giant Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk.

Kakao has been bombarded with negative press recently, especially over allegations of stock price manipulation by its executives.

It has been accused of allegedly inflating the stock price of K-pop agency SM Entertainment Co. by investing some 240 billion won ($177.6 million) to win a bidding war against Hybe Co., the K-pop powerhouse behind global superstar BTS, in February.

Last week, the Financial Supervisory Service, the financial watchdog, referred Kakao, Kakao Entertainment and three of the company's senior executives, including chief investment officer Bae Jae-hyun, who was arrested earlier this month, to prosecutors over the allegations. (Yonhap)