Seoul: Kakao Corp. announced on Thursday that its first-quarter net profit nearly tripled compared to the previous year, primarily driven by a one-off factor. The company reported a net income of 190.9 billion won (US$137.2 million) for the January-March period on a consolidated basis, marking a 182.1 percent increase from 67.7 billion won a year earlier.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the earnings surpassed market expectations significantly, as analysts had estimated an average net profit of 86.5 billion won, based on a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data arm of Yonhap News Agency. Despite the impressive net income, Kakao's operating profit for the quarter was 105.4 billion won, reflecting a 12.4 percent decline from 120.3 billion won in the same period last year. Furthermore, sales decreased by 6.3 percent year-on-year to 1.86 trillion won.

Kakao credited the stronger-than-expected financial results to a one-off factor associated with a subsidiary of SM Entertainment Co., which Kakao acquired in the previous year. This acquisition played a significant role in enhancing the company's bottom line for the quarter.

The company's flagship platform business unit experienced a 4 percent on-year increase in quarterly sales, reaching 993 billion won, driven by higher revenue from its mobile messenger service, KakaoTalk. However, sales from the content business division saw a 16 percent decline year-on-year, totaling 870.7 billion won, due to underperformance in its gaming, music streaming, and webtoon units.

Looking ahead, Kakao plans to launch its new artificial intelligence (AI) service, Kanana, along with other related services later this year in collaboration with OpenAI. The introduction of these AI services is part of Kakao's strategy to further expand and innovate its offerings in the market.