Of Korea’s 35 million Internet users, 25 million designate Naver as their home page. They watch the news, search for restaurants, go shopping or make reservations for tickets via the portal site.
There is the word “Googlization.” But in Korea, people use the terminology “Naverization,” which means that all roads lead to Naver in the country.
However, Naver’s clout over all walks of life in Korea has stirred controversy. It is accused of wielding too much power and disturbing the IT “eco-system.”
Question: Since its founding as a venture company 13 years ago, Naver has become a business with an annual turnover of more than 2 trillion won. It is a large company. Did its initial “venture spirit” disappear?
Answer: In terms of size, Naver is a large company. However, it is based on venture spirit. We risk dangers and address challenges. It constitutes our competitiveness. In this regard, the venture spirit is the centerpiece of an Internet company.
Q: Some people have criticized Naver for monopolizing the market, thus destroying individual developers and small venture firms. In other words, they say, Naver is disturbing the IT eco-system.
A: “No. The value portal sites pursue is giving opportunities to businesses, which drew little attention in the market. Large businesses and famous companies have no reasons for searching on the Internet. In this regard, I think that Naver has played the role of protecting small businesses. Of 200,000 advertisers, 80,000-90,000 are small, self-employed ones.
Q: When NHN grew rapidly, a number of developers at small- and medium-sized businesses moved to NHN.
A: It is a different issue. We scouted skilled manpower. However, many people came to NHN’s portal business which was growing rapidly. But the situation has changed. Many former members of Naver launch new businesses like Kakao Talk, and others work at Samsung, LG and other large companies. NHN is proud that it has yielded a lot of skilled IT manpower.
Q: Naver has been far ahead of other portal sites in the category of PCs. The dominance remains firm. But the market is fast moving from PCs to smartphones. In the category of mobile phones, Google dominates with Android. Are you confident that Naver will win over Google?
A: “Thanks for comparing Naver to Google. What is Google? It is a company that dominates markets in almost all countries in the world. Its market share in Europe amounts to 80 percent. But in Korea, the situation is different. Korea is the only country on the globe, where Google has failed to become winner. The dominant winner here is Naver. I think we have an advantage.
Q: Naver is criticized for being too commercial carrying too many ads.
A: About 90 percent of Google’s profits come from ads. When we search something on Google, the sponsor link comes out at the top of page. Ad is also information. There are many “keyword ads” on Naver. This is aimed at providing Internet users with more information, not making more revenues. If you type “꽃배달” in the search menu, 15 businesses will appear. If we halve the number, the remaining half will have to close their doors. This could destroy the IT eco-system.