Kim Beom-soo (; born 8 March 1966), also known as Brian Kim, is a South Korean billionaire businessman who is the founder and chairman of Kakao, a South Korean internet company.
Early life and education
Kim grew up in one of Seoul's poorest neighbourhoods and is the third of five children. He was raised by his grandmother in a one-bedroom apartment as his parents worked. His father was a pen factory worker and his mother was a hotel maid with a grade-school education.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, and a Master of Science degree, both from Seoul National University.
Career
Kim's first job was as a developer for an online communication service at Samsung’s IT services unit.
In 1998, Kim started Hangame with $184,000 he was given by friends and family. The company started as an internet café business but later became South Korea's first online gaming portal. He merged the company with web portal Naver in 2000 and later worked as a representative of NHN until 2007.
Kim moved to Silicon Valley, California in 2005 and in 2006, created IWILAB, an incubator for Korean entrepreneurs in Mountain View.
In 2010, he started KakaoTalk. KakaoTalk is South Korea's biggest messaging app and is installed on 90% of the country's smartphones.
In May 2021, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$11.2 billion.
In the same year, Kim signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of his wealth to philanthropy.
Personal life
He is married with two children and lives in Seoul, South Korea.
Being accused of gambling
He was accused of gambling in Las Vegas in the early years of Kakao Corp from 2007 to 2010. Overseas gambling is illegal under Korean law. Korean prosecutors have reportedly obtained information from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury that Kakao mobile messenger founder Kim had spent 20 hours and 51 minutes at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas in 2007 when he served as NHN Global CEO. He bet an average of $2,440 per session and lost $16,993, Korean Hankook Ilbo newspaper reported. The company decided to comply with the prosecution's warrants requesting monitoring of chatting records, a reversal from its earlier stance.