American Airlines CEO to Meet Pilots Union Amid Storm Response and Financial Concerns 
South Africa Eyes ECB Repo Lines as Inflation Eases and Rate Cuts Loom 
Oil Prices Slide on US-Iran Talks, Dollar Strength and Profit-Taking Pressure 
Ford and Geely Explore Strategic Manufacturing Partnership in Europe 
Thailand Inflation Remains Negative for 10th Straight Month in January 
CK Hutchison Launches Arbitration After Panama Court Revokes Canal Port Licences 
Instagram Outage Disrupts Thousands of U.S. Users 
Trump’s Inflation Claims Clash With Voters’ Cost-of-Living Reality 
Japanese Pharmaceutical Stocks Slide as TrumpRx.gov Launch Sparks Market Concerns 
Gold and Silver Prices Slide as Dollar Strength and Easing Tensions Weigh on Metals 
Trump Backs Nexstar–Tegna Merger Amid Shifting U.S. Media Landscape 
Baidu Approves $5 Billion Share Buyback and Plans First-Ever Dividend in 2026 
Sony Q3 Profit Jumps on Gaming and Image Sensors, Full-Year Outlook Raised 
Dow Hits 50,000 as U.S. Stocks Stage Strong Rebound Amid AI Volatility 
Gold Prices Slide Below $5,000 as Strong Dollar and Central Bank Outlook Weigh on Metals 
China Extends Gold Buying Streak as Reserves Surge Despite Volatile Prices 
Kakao Corporation announced this week that it would be compensating small businesses that suffered damage due to the nationwide service outage in October. The company said it would be handing out up to KRW50,000, or about $39.50, to small business owners.
Kakao Corporation has formed the “1015 Damage Support Consultative Body” for the sole purpose of providing support services to small businesses that suffered due to the long service disruption caused by a fire at the company’s data center stationed at the SK C&C facility.
As per The Korea Times, the internet company decided to offer up the mentioned amount to business owners to at least make up for the damage they suffered due to the service interruptions that happened on Oct. 15. The company will also give away free emoticons to all of its KakaoTalk messenger users.
The South Korean firm announced its damage compensation plan on Thursday, Dec. 29. It said that this would be carried out in cooperation with the damage support council that it recently established. ,
The council is made up of officials from a lobby group of small business owners, Kakao itself, and civic groups. They will be compensating small companies based on their sales losses caused by the service outage. For those that incurred less than 300,000 sales loss, they will be given KRW30,000 while it will be KRW50,000 for those who lost between KRW300,000 and KRW500,000 in sales.
If there are cases where losses are more than KRW500,000, the council will award them with additional compensation. The officials will determine how much to pay after reviewing the cases. It was added that Kakao would also set up a dedicated customer service center for anything related to damage compensation.
"The council closely analyzed the cases of damage received and went through the process of verifying and discussing individual cases several times with members representing each group," KakaoTalk division head, Song Ji Hye, said in a press release. “In the process of deriving this, interest and support from the government and the National Assembly, including the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Korea Communications Commission, was also very helpful."
Kim Ki Hong, the Small Business Federation’s auditor who is part of the council, further said, “The Kakao 1015 incident served as an opportunity to confirm that a close ecosystem exists between platform companies and small business owners.”
