South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp. said Friday its net profit more than doubled in the third quarter from a year earlier on strong growth in its key businesses.

The company's net income came to 192.9 billion won ($133.2 million) for the three-month period ending in September, up 145.6 percent from 78.5 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 117.5 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Operating profit also soared 59.4 percent on-year to 208 billion won for the quarter from 130.5 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 8.6 percent to 2.08 trillion won.

The company achieved new quarterly record highs in both operating profit and sales.

An employee arrives for work at Kakao’s Pangyo Agit office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of July 23, 2024. (Herald DB)
An employee arrives for work at Kakao’s Pangyo Agit office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of July 23, 2024. (Herald DB)

Kakao attributed the sharp gains in net profit to strong sales from its core platform, content businesses and increased equity gains from subsidiaries.

Sales from platform businesses, including its mobile messenger KakaoTalk, grew 12 percent on-year to 1.06 trillion won, backed by rising advertisement and transaction-based revenue.

The content division's sales climbed 5 percent to 1.03 trillion won on strong demand for music and media content.

Kakao said it plans to step up efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into its services in the coming quarters, following the recent launch of ChatGPT for its KakaoTalk service.

Regarding complaints over KakaoTalk's user interface redesign, Kakao said it will revise the app's front tab in line with user feedback.

In September, Kakao introduced major UI changes for KakaoTalk, its biggest overhaul in 15 years, to transform the messenger service into a broader social media platform.

However, the comprehensive update sparked a strong backlash, with users criticizing the overhaul over its Instagram-like feed and increased advertisements. (Yonhap)

The corporate image of Kakao Corp. (Herald DB)
The corporate image of Kakao Corp. (Herald DB)