Once a national craze, Kakao shares have crashed from 170,000 won to 30,000 won — and investors say they're done

"I will never buy Kakao." — a retail investor

"It ended up cut in half. I cut my losses and sold." — an investor

In 2021, Kakao fever swept the country. Everyone was calling for the stock to go up tenfold, to 200,000 won ($133) or beyond. It shot up to the 170,000-won range almost overnight. But no one anticipated it would come crashing down to the 30,000-won range.

Once hailed as a "people's stock," Kakao has become a forgotten name. The semiconductor rally led by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix has pushed it further into the shadows. Even after a steep decline in its share price, the stock has all but vanished from investors' radar.

Retail investors have largely given up. Many say they ultimately sold at a heavy loss. At its peak, Kakao had about 2 million small shareholders — second only to Samsung Electronics.

Shareholders are seething. One said tallies show 96 percent of Kakao investors are sitting on losses, and demanded to know when the share price would ever recover to 120,000 won.

Kakao's share price peaked at 173,000 won intraday on June 24, 2021, and has since collapsed to the 30,000-won range.

Kakao shares have fallen more than 40 percent this year alone, with no sign of a recovery. The company has posted solid earnings every quarter, but concerns over AI profitability have cast a shadow over the stock.

The biggest problem, analysts say, is that Kakao has yet to prove its AI business can make money. "GPT in Kakao," a service developed in partnership with ChatGPT, has accumulated about 11 million users, but the market remains skeptical about its profitability. The same doubts surround Kanana, the company's in-house AI model.

Brokerages have been cutting their target prices for Kakao. LS Securities lowered its target to 55,000 won, down 16.7 percent from its previous estimate, citing weakening AI momentum. DB Financial Investment trimmed its target from 69,000 won to 57,000 won, and Hanwha Investment cut its target from 70,000 won to 62,000 won.

Chief Executive Jeong Shin-a earlier told shareholders at the annual general meeting that she felt a heavy sense of responsibility as CEO for the prolonged weakness in the share price, and said she took seriously the frustration and stern criticism from shareholders.

Jeong added that she has been buying 100 million won worth of Kakao shares on the open market every half-year, and pledged to move in the same direction as shareholders.