Ryu Young-joon / Newsis

Kakao, the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said Monday its nominee for new co-CEO, Ryu Young-joon, has offered to withdraw over his controversial stock selloffs.

Ryu, who served as the chief of Kakao's payment arm, Kakao Pay, was named to lead the tech giant with incumbent co-CEO Yeo Min-soo, Nov. 25.

Ryu, however, has come under criticism after he, along with other senior executives, sold around 90 billion won ($75 million) worth of Kakao Pay shares by exercising their stock options Dec. 10. They garnered around 46.9 billion won in profits.

His selloffs eventually led to Kakao Pay's share price plunging from 208,500 won Dec. 9 to 148,500 won as of Monday.

Kakao said its board of directors decided to accept Ryu's withdrawal.

Ryu, who joined Kakao in 2011, successfully led the initial public offering of Kakao Pay. (Yonhap)