Kakao is latest IT firm to give employees stock options

Home > Business > Industry

print dictionary print

Kakao is latest IT firm to give employees stock options

Logo of Kakao. [KAKAO]

Logo of Kakao. [KAKAO]

 
Kakao announced a big stock grant worth 53.9 billion won ($48 million) to all employees including interns on Tuesday, marking the latest in a series of large-scale compensation plans among Korea’s tech companies.
 
The payout plan, which will last through 2023, is designed to annually provide 200 Kakao shares set at 114,500 won per share to 2,223 employees who have worked for more than one year and 100 shares to 283, who have worked less than one year.
 
Workers will have to wait three years for their restricted stock to fully vest.
 
The company explained that the scheme is designed to enhance the morale of workers.
 
Kakao is not alone in offering generous stock-based benefits to cover employees at different levels.
 
Baedal Minjok, a food delivery app, issued a similar payout plan in March worth around 100 billion won.
 
Regular employees were entitled to an average 50 million won of restricted shares, while gig workers were given between 2 million won and 5 million won depending on the amount they have worked.
 
Coupang announced a stock compensation plan to cover all levels of employees, including delivery drivers, in February.
 
BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)