The Kakao Branch of the Korean Chemical, Textile and Food Workers' Union criticized Kakao's online small shareholder meeting, saying the event repeated previously announced justifications for splitting the company into KakaoX and KakaoAI without providing new information. Kakao held the roughly one-hour meeting on September 16, while the union issued its criticism on September 17. The company has said KakaoX would oversee investment and portfolio management and KakaoAI would handle AI-based services, citing faster decision-making in its AI business and enhanced corporate value as reasons for the spin-off (the separation of one company into two legal entities). The union said Kakao did not explain why the split was necessary now, why a single-company structure could not address the issues, or how shareholder value and labor conditions would be protected. It also objected to the meeting format, saying attendance was difficult to verify, microphones were not available for direct questions, 14 of 16 Q&A questions were prepared by Kakao, and only about six minutes were reserved for questions from shareholders attending the meeting. The union said Kakao ended the session about two minutes early without answering additional questions posted online. It demanded concrete responses on the split's timing, division ratio, risk allocation, shareholder returns, and employment and compensation protections, as well as public disclosure of all questions and written answers to those left unresolved.