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SKT's net profit for Q4 2024 more than doubles on year to $307M

Published: 12 Feb. 2025, 14:06 Updated: 12 Feb. 2025, 18:05

Logo of SK Telecom [SK TELECOM]

SK Telecom, Korea's leading mobile carrier, said Wednesday its fourth-quarter net income more than doubled due to a one-off profit related to a merger of its units.

Net profit for the October-December period totaled 446.5 billion won ($307.1 million) on a consolidated basis, up 138.3 percent from 187.4 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Its operating profit fell 14.4 percent on year to 254.1 billion won, and revenue inched down 0.3 percent to 4.51 trillion won.

The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 132.3 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

SK Telecom attributed the larger-than-expected net profit to income from the merger of Rebellions, an AI fabless startup, and Sapeon Korea, an AI chip processor affiliate of SK Telecom.

For 2024, SK Telecom posted net profit of 1.43 trillion won, up 25.6 percent from a year earlier.

Its operating income rose 4 percent on year to 1.82 trillion won, and annual revenue increased 1.9 percent to 17.94 trillion won.

SK Telecom said its AI business, its new growth engine, led the annual performance last year, posting a 19 percent growth in sales for 2024.

Sales from its AI data center unit climbed 13.1 percent on year to 397.4 billion won.

SK Telecom said it will focus more on its AI business in the future as part of a broader strategy to become a comprehensive AI technology company.

Yonhap