Naver to launch a personal AI agent app by year-end as Kakao readies Kanana Space
Naver chief executive Choi Soo-yeon said on the company's third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, November 12 that Naver will launch a personal AI agent app by the end of the year — an agent that books, shops and pays, not just answers. Kakao will counter with Kanana Space, its AI assistant hub inside KakaoTalk.
📊 Scorecard: our Bullish call on $035420.KS is scored from ₩172,500, the last close before it ran. Its first result comes after the next close.
The News
South Korea's two biggest platforms are about to face off over agents that transact, not just answer. Naver chief executive Choi Soo-yeon said on the company's third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, November 12 that Naver will launch a personal AI agent app by the end of the year. Unlike a chatbot, the agent is designed to complete tasks — search for a product, book a restaurant or service, and pay for it — drawing on Naver's shopping, Place, reservations, maps and Naver Pay systems.
The earnings that came with the announcement tell both sides of the story. Naver reported record third-quarter revenue of ₩3.4724 trillion (about $2.37 billion), up 10.7% year on year, while operating profit fell 20.9% to ₩451.3 billion (about $308 million) as AI spending rose. Naver Pay, the payment system the new agent will draw on, handled ₩26.2 trillion in the quarter, up 15.6%. The market heard the profit number louder than the revenue record: Naver shares fell 5.12% on Friday to ₩172,500 on the earnings print.
Kakao will counter with Kanana Space, its AI assistant hub inside KakaoTalk, starting with a closed beta test next month for pre-registered users. Kanana Space will execute tasks including gift-giving and money transfers on voice or text command, and Kakao has set a goal of 10 million monthly active AI users by year-end. Kakao unveiled Kanana Space at its if(kakao) developer conference on October 13–14, and confirmed the December pilot on its November 5 earnings call, so the December closed beta is the next step of a plan already in motion, not a new announcement.
Both launches are plans, not live products — the December dates are the companies' own targets, and neither app is in users' hands yet. But the shape of the race is now clear: two super-apps, each with its own payments system and tens of millions of users, racing to be the place where Koreans hand everyday tasks to an agent instead of doing them by hand.
Naver and Kakao are not racing to build the smartest chatbot — they are racing to be the agent that does the errand.
Why It Matters
This matters because Korea is about to become the clearest test of a simple question: does the agent race belong to the company with the best model, or the company with the best checkout? Naver and Kakao are both betting on the second answer. Naver's agent will not need to be the smartest AI in the world — it needs to be the one that can search a product, book the table and pay for both without the user leaving Naver's apps. Kakao's bet is the same shape in a different place: KakaoTalk is the messaging app almost every Korean uses daily, and Kanana Space turns that habit into a place where tasks get done.
The earnings numbers explain why both companies are moving now, and why the market is nervous. Naver's revenue hit a record, but operating profit fell by a fifth because AI spending is rising faster than the revenue it produces. That is the pattern of a company investing ahead of the payoff, and investors punished it on the day — down 5.12%. But the Naver Pay figure, ₩26.2 trillion in a single quarter and up 15.6%, is the asset the agent will be built on. Payments volume is the raw material of an agent that transacts; without it, an agent is just a chatbot with ambitions.
The race also has a deadline that makes it measurable. Kakao's closed beta starts next month, its 10-million-user goal is set for year-end, and Naver's app is promised by the end of the year. Within weeks, both companies will have real users and real numbers instead of earnings-call promises. Whoever's agent actually completes tasks people repeat — booking, gifting, paying — will have the template every other super-app copies.
Analyst's Take
Our call is Bullish. The share price fell, but the story is the product: Naver is putting an agent on top of the one thing its rivals cannot copy quickly — a shopping, maps, reservations and payments stack that already handles ₩26.2 trillion a quarter. An agent that can book and pay inside Naver's own systems does not need to ask a user to re-enter a card or switch apps, and that is exactly the friction ChatGPT Wallet is trying to solve from the other side of the world. Kakao's Kanana Space is a real counter — KakaoTalk is where Koreans already live, and gift-giving and money transfers are the tasks people actually repeat. The profit drop is the honest cost of the race: both companies are spending heavily before either app is live. Watch the December beta numbers, not the share price, to judge who is winning. Reader poll: Naver or Kakao — who wins agents? Naver / Kakao / Both / Neither.
Are you bullish or bearish on this story?
By The Numbers
FAQ
What is a personal AI agent app?
Unlike a chatbot that only answers questions, a personal AI agent completes tasks for you — searching for a product, booking a restaurant or service, and paying for it — using the apps and payment systems you already have.
What is Kanana Space?
Kanana Space is Kakao's AI assistant hub inside KakaoTalk, unveiled at Kakao's if(kakao) developer conference on October 13–14 and confirmed on its November 5 earnings call. It will execute tasks including gift-giving and money transfers on voice or text command, starting with a closed beta test next month.
Why did Naver shares fall on record revenue?
Revenue hit a record, but operating profit fell 20.9% as AI spending rose. The market focused on the profit drop and the cost of the AI build-out, not the revenue record, and Naver shares fell 5.12% on Friday to ₩172,500.
What does 'year on year' mean?
It means compared with the same period a year earlier — so revenue up 10.7% year on year means Naver made 10.7% more this quarter than in the same quarter last year.
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Source: Digital Today