(LEAD) Kakao Q3 operating profit up 15.5 pct on stable growth of platform biz

SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korean internet tech giant Kakao Corp. said Thursday its operating profit rose 15.5 percent from a year earlier, boosted by the stable growth of its flagship platform business.

On a consolidated basis, the company reported an operating profit of 240.3 billion won (US$179.2 million) in the July-September period, according to its regulatory filing.

Sales remained unchanged at 2.08 trillion won, while net income was down 7.9 percent to 177.7 billion won.

The company's flagship platform business saw sales grow 17 percent on-year to 1.24 trillion won.

Notably, turnover of its commerce business rose 13 percent on-year to 2.3 trillion won, as more people used the KakaoTalk platform to purchase goods during the Chuseok holidays and as well as to buy items for themselves, the IT company explained.

Kakao's ride-hailing and payment services, also included in its platform unit, generated 602.1 billion won in sales, up 21 percent on-year.

But sales from its content business were down 6 percent on-year to 851.7 billion won due to a drop in new album releases and large concerts, as well as a decline in sales from its social networking service, KakaoStory.

Kakao said it plans to speed up the introduction of its AI assistant, Kanana Space, as it projects the monthly active users of its AI services to reach 10 million by the end of the year.

A pilot run of the AI assistant will be launched in December, while a formal introduction of its Kanvas AI service will be made by the end of the year. Kanvas AI was developed as part of a government-led project to create AI services accessible to everyone.

"Focusing all our resources into providing AI services that exceed market expectations is the most important thing," Chung Shin-a, the chief executive officer of Kakao, was quoted as saying in a release.

"We plan to swiftly expand our AI services and meet our shareholder expectations by delivering tangible business results and enhancing corporate value."