YLAB is showing strong performance. The prospect that webtoons are beginning to enter mainstream content in the United States and will grow rapidly appears to have influenced the stock price.
As of 10:18 AM on the 31st, YLAB was trading at 9,400 KRW, up 1,660 KRW (21.45%) compared to the previous trading day.
Founded in 2010, YLAB is a webtoon studio that owns 9 out of the top 15 works on Naver Webtoon last year. As of last year, it holds 50 copyrights and 13 business rights, making it the webtoon studio with the largest number of webtoon IPs in Korea.
Sung Hyun-dong, a researcher at KB Securities, expressed expectations that "IP demand will increase as Apple, Amazon, and others enter the webtoon market alongside existing players Naver and Kakao." He added, "Naver, a global webtoon platform, and CJ ENM, a global comprehensive content company, each hold a 9.67% stake," and predicted that "strategic collaborations will continue."
In addition to Naver Webtoon and CJ ENM, Pearl Abyss and 4:33 Creative Lab have also invested in YLAB.
One of the biggest features of YLAB’s IP is its universe. In 2016, it announced ‘Super String,’ the first domestic webtoon universe in the superhero genre. In 2018, it released ‘Blue String’ in the school youth genre, and in 2021, ‘Red String’ in the romance genre. The universe allows multiple IPs to share temporal and spatial backgrounds, with interconnected characters forming a large narrative, providing special enjoyment when the public recognizes this.
Shim Jun-kyung, CEO of YLAB, recently said in an interview with Yonhap News, "There is a part where we benchmark Marvel," adding, "We study and implement precedents on how Marvel and Disney extend the lifecycle of IPs and brand them."
He said, "Webtoons have already succeeded in Korea, a market so demanding it can be seen as a testing ground for Hollywood," and expressed optimism, saying, "With the influence of Netflix and others, the era has come where language or culture between countries does not matter, only the story needs to be interesting." He also explained, "Out of the 340 million people in the U.S., about 12 million watch webtoons," emphasizing that "webtoons have entered mainstream content for young Americans."
CEO Shim said, "JYP Entertainment went public in 2001, and now it has become such a large content company that it is hard to define it only as a Korean entertainment agency," adding, "Perhaps YLAB today could be the JYP of 2001." He further added, "Maybe in 20 years, it could become an even more influential company."
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