[Economy PICK] Kakao Mobility to Block Taxi Calls, Penalty KRW 70 Billion

[Anchor]
Shall we look at the third question? 'Taxi Call Blocking' Kakao Mobility is fined 70 billion won.

Kakao Mobility is currently being sanctioned for several cases, but a large fine has been decided again, right?

[Reporter]
That's right.

The imposition of the fine is due to 'blocking taxi calls from competitors'.

The Fair Trade Commission has decided to impose a 72.4 billion won fine and file a complaint with the prosecution against taxi drivers from four competitors, including Uti, Tada, Banban, and Macaron Taxi.

Kakao Mobility provides franchise calls to Kakao T Blue franchise taxis, and general calls are provided to taxis that are not affiliated taxis.

However, in order to increase the number of Kakao T Blue franchise taxis, general calls were blocked to drivers belonging to competitors who refused to sign partnership contracts.

The Fair Trade Commission explained that it demanded four competitors to sign contracts that would allow them to pay fees or collect information on their drivers or taxi operations in real time in exchange for using Kakao T's general calls, and that it would block their drivers from making Kakao T calls if they did not comply.

I heard the voice of a taxi driver who suffered from being blocked from general calls.

[Kakao Damage Taxi Driver: Before that, I made an average of 5 million won in sales. But Cole died, so it was only about 200 to 250 lines. About two to three months. It's a big blow to me.]

As a result of blocking calls and driving calls, Kakao Mobility has become a business with overwhelming market power.

As of 2022, the franchise market share reached 79%.

Tada and Half and Half, Macaron Taxi is closed or virtually out of business, and only Uti remains a valid competitor.

Kakao Mobility announced that the contract was signed on the premise of providing mutual information to resolve user inconvenience and did not use the information it secured for its business.

It also stated that it will file an administrative lawsuit.

[Anchor]
Kakao is being sanctioned for other things now, so please tell me the news.

[Reporter]
As you know, Kim Bum-soo, chairman of the Management Reform Committee, has been arrested on charges of manipulating the market price surrounding the acquisition of SM Entertainment.

The biggest crisis of entrepreneurial arrest has occurred.

Last year, Kakao Mobility was fined 25.7 billion won by the FTC for "driving taxi calls" to its affiliated taxis.

In this regard, a lawsuit for cancellation and suspension of execution have been filed, and a court dispute is currently taking place.

In addition, Kakao Mobility is set to be sanctioned by financial authorities on charges of fraudulent accounting.

The Financial Services Commission is expected to decide the level of sanctions this month.

During the franchise taxi business, he received 20% of the fare from the taxi company as a commission and returned 15% of it to advertising and data considerations, and is accused of inflating sales by accounting for 20% as sales instead of 5%.

Financial authorities believe that Kakao Mobility intentionally made fraudulent accounting to inflate the public offering price when it was listed.