Naver will accelerate its global business expansion in the content and commerce sector based on its best-ever performance in the third quarter. Some subsidiaries are considering to be in the listing.
According to Naver on the 21st, the global business in the content and commerce sector is growing rapidly. Naver CEO Seongsook Han said in a conference call when the 3rd quarter earnings released, "The number of monthly users of Naver Webtoon in Korea has exceeded a record high of 14 million, due to the release of original content such as 'Black Widow' and ‘Shang-Chi'. Global transaction amount has also grown steadily, and exceeding KRW 100 billion won.”
Naver announced on the same day that the content business division recorded KRW 184.1 billion, up 60.2% from the same period last year and 27.2% from the previous quarter. Webtoon showed a 79% sales growth compared to the same period last year as global cross-border content continued to increase.
Metaverse platform 'ZEPETO' also doubled its sales in the third quarter compared to last year. Sangjin Park, chief financial officer (CFO) of Naver, said, "We plan to add functional items and subscription products, not just fashion items in ZEPETO.”
The game features that were under the spotlight are not going to be added this time.CFO Park said, “There is no specific schedule (for the launch of the ZEPETO game function).There are no game elements in the user map in ZEPETO, but there are game elements in the official map. However, it is difficult to consider it as a game function or game category.”
Naver isstill reviewing the listing of its subsidiaries.CFO Park said, "Naver Webtoon and Snow's initial public opening (IPO) are not scheduled at the moment, but they can be reviewed in the long term depending on business growth and stable profit model."
Smart Store began in Japan.CEO Han said, “We have started recruiting smart store vendors in Japan. Starting with linking with Line messenger, we will expand our business by increasing collaboration with Z Holdings.”
Smart Store in Japanis called 'My Smart Store', which opened beta on the 20th and started recruiting vendors.In conjunction with the Line Messenger official account, My Smart Store provides a one-stop solution such as one-to-one communication function for users and analysis data to help each store's sales strategy.
Naver also announced on the same day that it recorded sales of KRW 1.72 trillion and operating profit of KRW 349.8 billion in the third quarter of this year. Sales in the third quarter reached a record high of KRW 1,727.3 billion, up 26.9% from the same period last year and 3.8% from the previous quarter. Operating profit also increased 19.9% from the same period last year and 4.2% from the previous quarter, reaching a record high of KRW 349.8 billion. Sales by business division were KRW 824.9 billion for search platform, KRW 380.3 billion for commerce, KRW 241.7 billion for fintech, KRW 184.1 billion for content, and KRW 96.2 billion for cloud.
CEO Han said, “We are taking on new global challenges, such as strengthening global intellectual property (IP) collaboration on webtoons and advancing into smart stores in Japan recently. We plan to continue our further growth on the global stage in the future.”
Even with all-round investments for the global business, the profit margin is not expected to drop significantly.CFO Park predicted and said,"The company is not targeting short-term profit growth, but the operating profit margin in the first half will be maintained in the fourth quarter."
Naver 2021 quarterly accomplishments> (Unit: KRW billion) ※Source: Naver
By Staff Reporter Siso Kim (siso@etnews.com)