SEONGNAM, South Korea, Oct. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVER Corporation (KRX: 035420) announced financial results today for the third quarter of 2021. The company reported revenue of KRW 1.727 trillion, operating income of KRW 349.8 billion and adjusted EBITDA of KRW 510.1 billion.
"NAVER achieved strong results in the third quarter by proactively investing in technology and bolstering a robust business ecosystem that fosters mutual growth for users, creators, SMEs, brands and partners," said Seong-sook Han, CEO of NAVER. "With exciting new ventures underway, such as the global expansion of WEBTOON through content IP collaborations and the advanced opening of 'MySmartStore' in Japan, we will continue to fortify our position in the global market and push forward with our expansion plans."
NAVER's consolidated operating revenue rose 26.9% YoY and 3.8% QoQ, reaching a record high of KRW 1.727 trillion. Consolidated operating profit rose 19.9% YoY and 4.2% QoQ, also reaching a record high of KRW 349.8 billion. Adjusted EBITDA, following the Korean version of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), rose 30.9% YoY and 6.2% QoQ to KRW 510.1 billion. Consolidated net income rose 37.1% YoY to KRW 322.7 billion.
By business segment, NAVER's operating revenue from the search platform is KRW 824.9 billion, commerce is KRW 380.3 billion, fintech is KRW 241.7 billion, content is KRW 184.1 billion and cloud is KRW 96.2 billion.
NAVER's search platform business revenue rose 16.2% YoY, down 0.1% QoQ to KRW 824.9 billion due to the rise in User Generated Content (UGC), improving search technology, and growing performance-based advertising. With the introduction of performance-based advertisements on PCs, display advertising revenue increased 33.2% YoY.
NAVER'S commerce business revenue rose 33.2% YoY and 4.1% QoQ to KRW 380.3 billion driven by the growth of Shopping Live, Brand Store and Smart Store. The number of new Smart Stores is also steadily increasing, and the number of Brand Stores has also expanded to more than 550, resulting in the transaction value to more than triple YoY. Shopping Live's Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) grew more than 13 times YoY, becoming the mainstream in its industry with some of these livestream shows attracting massive viewership of more than 1 million and brands earning quarterly sales of KRW 10 billion.
NAVER's fintech business reported revenue of KRW 241.7 billion, up 38.9% YoY and 3.9% QoQ from the accelerated growth of Total Payment Value (TPV) with successful partnership expansion. NAVER Pay TPV grew 39% YoY to KRW 9.8 trillion, strengthened by the launch of new services such as the NAVER Pay app and NAVER Hyundai Card. NAVER Pay has grown into a leading simple payment service platform in Korea, and is expanding its fintech capabilities linking with diverse services.
NAVER's content business revenue rose 60.2% YoY and 27.2% QoQ to KRW 184.1 billion, with evenly improved contribution from global businesses such as WEBTOON and SNOW. WEBTOON business revenue grew 79% YoY as global cross-border content continued to expand. SNOW business revenue more than doubled YoY thanks to the growth of camera services and metaverse platform ZEPETO in the global market.
NAVER's cloud business revenue increased 26.2% YoY and 1.4% QoQ to KRW 96.2 billion. The increasing number of new customers and greater application of cloud computing in the public sector has fueled revenue growth, with various NAVER CLOVA cloud technologies such as OCR, AI call, and face recognition being successfully commercialized.
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[Reference: NAVER Earnings Summary]
NAVER's 2021 3rd quarter earnings report is based on the consolidated financial statements of Korean version of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
About NAVER
Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea's largest Internet company with hundreds of millions of users worldwide. As a global technology company, it operates the No.1 search engine in Korea, NAVER, as well as other online services, such as LINE mobile messenger, Webtoon and Webnovel publishing, SNOW video camera app and ZEPETO metaverse platform. NAVER recorded sales of KRW 5.3 trillion (USD 4.6 billion) in 2020 and is pursuing changes and innovations in technology platforms through continuous research and development of future technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics and mobility.
For media inquiries, please contact Weber Shandwick Korea, NAVER Corporation's global PR agency, at naverglobalpr@webershandwick.com.
