Kakao Corp. stated that its co-CEO nominee, Ryu Young-joon, would not take the top post at the tech giant, following a snowballing controversy over his selloff of Kakao affiliate stocks. Ryu is the former CEO of Kakao Pay, the mobile money transfer affiliate of Kakao Group.

Ryu was nominated on Nov. 25 as one of the new co-CEOs of Kakao, and had been expected to assume the post after the company's general shareholders meeting in March.