Naver's Webtoon Entertainment shares close nearly 10% higher on Nasdaq debut
Kim Jun-koo, founder and CEO of Webtoon Entertainment Inc., speaks during a meeting with reporters in New York, June 27. Yonhap
Online comics company Webtoon Entertainment, owned by South Korea's top internet platform Naver, advanced nearly 10 percent in its first trading session on Wall Street on Thursday, putting its corporate value at $2.92 billion.
Webtoon Entertainment, trading under the ticker symbol WBTN, finished 9.5 percent higher at $23 on the Nasdaq overnight, according to market data. The company rose as high as 14 percent up during the trading session.
The company earlier announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 15 million shares of common stock at a price to the public of $21 per share.
Webtoon Entertainment's valuation was estimated at $2.92 billion, considering the latest closing price on the U.S. stock market.
The listing is part of Naver's strategy to become a more global webtoon platform.
Webtoons, a type of digital comic originating from South Korea about 10 years ago and normally read on smartphones, have seen their popularity extend beyond their home base, attracting international readers in Asia, North America and Europe.
Naver holds a 63.4 percent stake in Webtoon Entertainment. (Yonhap)