On the 26th, at the InterContinental Seoul COEX Hotel, Han Seong-suk, CEO of Naver (left), and Choi Eun-seok, Chief Strategy Officer of CJ Corporation (right), attended the signing ceremony of the CJ-NAVER business partnership agreement.
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] CJ Group and Naver have joined hands to strengthen future competitiveness. The two leading companies in culture·logistics and platform·e-commerce respectively have formed a new strategic partnership for global growth in the digital era.
On the 26th, CJ and Naver officially announced a comprehensive business alliance focusing on cooperation in K-content and digital video platform businesses, and joint promotion of e-fulfillment business for e-commerce innovation, agreeing on a stock swap worth 600 billion KRW.
Under this agreement, CJ ENM and Studio Dragon will each exchange stocks worth 150 billion KRW, and CJ Logistics will exchange stocks worth 300 billion KRW with Naver. CJ ENM and CJ Logistics will sell their treasury stocks, Studio Dragon will proceed with a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase (new share issuance), and Naver will sell treasury stocks of the same amount to each counterpart. The stock swap date is the 27th, and Studio Dragon’s paid-in capital increase is expected to take about two weeks.
The partnership between the two companies will be carried out comprehensively across content and commerce sectors.
First, in the content field, the two companies agreed to secure video adaptation rights (IP) for webtoons, which have high potential for global market penetration, and to cooperate in video production (dramas, movies, animations). Some of the premium IPs jointly invested by both companies will be produced by CJ as high value-added video content targeting the global market first. To this end, the two companies plan to invest a total of 300 billion KRW over the next three years, including the establishment of a joint content investment fund.
CJ ENM and Studio Dragon possess globally proven production capabilities and top-level professional talents, demonstrated by works such as the movie "Parasite" and the drama "Goblin," while Naver Webtoon is a content ecosystem producing abundant stories, with its global monthly users recently surpassing 67 million, rapidly expanding its fandom. By combining their core competencies, the two companies aim to target the global market with high-quality content and contribute to the spread of K-content.
Tving, recently spun off from CJ ENM, has also seized the opportunity to become a leading domestic OTT (services providing movies, dramas, and various videos over the internet). They plan to promote cooperation to expand subscribers, such as launching combined membership products between Tving and Naver memberships, while Naver will also participate in Tving’s equity investment to build solid competitiveness against global OTTs like Netflix.
Additionally, they will cooperate to globally distribute CJ’s music and performance content using Naver’s video platforms such as V Live, which is gaining popularity overseas, and collaborate to secure and produce new types of content such as immersive and short-form content applying VR·AR technologies.
A CJ official said, “The cooperation between CJ, which has world-class content planning and production capabilities, and Naver, which owns original content such as webtoons and web novels, is expected to expand K-content globally,” adding, “This will also contribute to revitalizing the domestic creative ecosystem and creating jobs for young people.”
In the e-commerce and logistics sector, CJ Logistics’ e-fulfillment service will become a strategic partner of Naver. The two companies plan to expand the scope of the pilot e-fulfillment business and actively cooperate through joint investment in logistics infrastructure. This is expected to provide customers with optimal shopping experiences and contribute to the development of the domestic e-commerce shopping and logistics ecosystem.
Furthermore, they will mutually cooperate in logistics-related technology development to refine digital logistics systems such as demand forecasting, logistics automation, inventory placement optimization, autonomous driving, and logistics robots, thereby building smart logistics.
Going forward, the two companies will discuss detailed cooperation plans through a business alliance consultative body and continuously explore additional joint business opportunities in promising future fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, and robotics technology.
Choi Eun-seok, Chief Strategy Officer of CJ Corporation, said, “This alliance is a new cooperation paradigm where two companies with outstanding capabilities in their respective fields come together to lead in the global competitive market,” and added, “We will continue to strive to find new growth engines through various forms of open collaboration.”
Han Seong-sook, CEO of Naver, said, “Through collaboration with the top domestic logistics and entertainment companies, we aim to provide new experiences and conveniences to users at home and abroad,” and stated, “Naver will continue to strengthen cooperation with partners in various fields and develop unique services and businesses.”
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