Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Naver Webtoon's Nasdaq IPO expected to foster growth of webtoon industry
Screenshot image of Naver Webtoon / Courtesy of Naver Webtoon (Webtoon Entertainment)
By Anna J. Park
As Naver Webtoon is anticipated to make its Nasdaq debut later this year, market interest in small and medium-sized webtoon-related companies in Korea is continuing to growing.
According to the investment banking industry, Naver Webtoon, also known as Webtoon Entertainment in the U.S., is accelerating its Nasdaq IPO process to complete the listing this year, despite the unsettled atmosphere within the big-tech Korean conglomerate due to the recent controversies surrounding the Japanese government's pressure on Naver's global messenger business called Line.
Promotional image of Naver Webtoon / Courtesy of Naver Webtoon
Webtoon Entertainment is a subsidiary of Naver in the U.S., which was established to expand Naver Webtoon's global presence, providing webtoon services in many regions, including the U.S., Japan, Southeast Asia and Europe.
Earlier this year, Naver Webtoon selected Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as its lead underwriters for the IPO. In addition, the firm newly welcomed Isabelle Winkles onto its board in April, who served as the CFO of Braze, contributing to the firm's Nasdaq listing in 2021. She also served as a managing director at Morgan Stanley from January 2016 to April 2018. Her appointment to the board is seen as the webtoon company's effort to successfully carry out the IPO.
Naver's global webtoon transaction volume grew to 444 billion won ($325 million) last year, which is a 9.3 percent year-on-year level of growth. The company's target corporate value on the U.S. stock market is expected to be around $3 billion or $4 billion.
Burgeoning webtoon industry
Some watchers say the Nasdaq listing of the global leading webtoon platform would further foster the webtoon industry in the country, benefiting various production companies supplying works to major webtoon publishing platforms like Naver Webtoon.
The formation of a full-fledged webtoon sector is likely to be beneficial for small and medium-sized webtoon-related companies in Korea. There's an analysis that if Naver Webtoon uses the funds raised from its listing to expand its overseas business, the webtoon production companies that supply works to Naver Webtoon will also enjoy the boon in their business.
Screenshot image of Naver Webtoon / Courtesy of Naver Webtoon (Webtoon Entertainment)
Currently, companies like Soosung Webtoon, D&C Media and YLAB are representative webtoon-related content business companies listed on the Korean market.
These webtoon-related stocks are also expected to grow into an alternative to entertainment stocks on the Korean stock markets, which have recently been underperforming. The webtoon industry shares many similarities with the entertainment industry in terms of the significance of intellectual property (IP) rights in their businesses.
Also, the webtoon industry can offer the Korean entertainment industry a source of content that can turn creativity into a profitable outcome. The relatively lower production costs for webtoons can further facilitate the growth of the entertainment sector by nurturing the industry.