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Photo = Kakao Mobility |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Jisun] Kakao Mobility's fine, imposed for allegedly engaging in "call blocking abuse" against competitors, has been reduced from 724 billion KRW to 151 billion KRW. This reduction is due to a re-evaluation of the company's reported revenues by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which lowered the basis for the fine calculation.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced on the 17th that it had finalized the adjusted fine after taking into account the SFC's recent decision regarding Kakao Mobility's inflated revenue claims.
Earlier, Kakao Mobility was fined 724 billion KRW in October for allegedly coercing rival taxi businesses into signing partnership agreements, and for blocking calls from KakaoT drivers if they refused the terms, an act of "bullying" in violation of the Fair Trade Act. This fine was one of the largest in the history of market dominance abuse cases, ranking fourth after Qualcomm's fine of 10.31 trillion KRW in 2017.
The reduction in the fine reflects the SFC's final ruling on Kakao Mobility's revenue, while the FTC maintained the original penalty calculation method from its September 25th decision. The fine is calculated based on the relevant revenue generated from unfair practices, with a percentage (5%) applied according to the severity of the violations.
Previously, Kakao Mobility recognized the franchise fees received from affiliate taxis (about 19%) and the partnership fees paid to taxis (about 16.7%) as both sales revenue and operating expenses using the gross method of accounting. The FTC had initially calculated the fine based on this method but adjusted the final figure according to the revised revenue data provided by the SFC.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
