Record High Sales of 9.6 Trillion KRW and Operating Profit of 1.4 Trillion KRW
Commerce Sales Growth 41% · Content Sales Growth 37%
Naver recorded its highest-ever performance last year, achieving nearly 10 trillion KRW in sales. While online advertising revenue remained flat, commerce and content businesses drove the growth in results.
On the 2nd, Naver announced that its sales for the fourth quarter of last year reached 2.537 trillion KRW, with an operating profit of 405.5 billion KRW. These represent growth of 11.7% and 20.5% respectively compared to the same period the previous year. Fourth-quarter sales by business segment were ▲ Search Platform 928.3 billion KRW ▲ Commerce 660.5 billion KRW ▲ Fintech 356.0 billion KRW ▲ Content 466.3 billion KRW ▲ Cloud 125.9 billion KRW.
Annual sales for last year increased by 17.6% year-on-year to 9.6706 trillion KRW. Operating profit rose 14.1% to 1.4888 trillion KRW. Both annual sales and operating profit are record highs.
By business segment, sales from the Search Platform, which includes search and display advertising, reached 3.5891 trillion KRW, growing only 0.6% year-on-year. Display advertising revenue slowed due to the economic downturn. However, search advertising continued to grow by revamping mobile integrated search and improving the advertising product user interface (UI). Naver applied its generative AI search service 'Cue:' to PC integrated search at the end of November last year and plans to expand testing to mobile this year.
Commerce sales grew 41.4% year-on-year to 2.5466 trillion KRW. Sales increased as total transaction volume rose and Naver monetized its Brand Solution Package and Delivery Guarantee service in October last year. The Brand Solution Package is an integrated marketing solution for brands, and Delivery Guarantee is a service that guarantees delivery on the promised date. Additionally, the inclusion of the North American user-to-user (C2C) platform Poshmark and the increase in commission rates on the secondhand trading platform Cream contributed to the growth.
Fintech sales amounted to 1.3548 trillion KRW, up 14.2% year-on-year. Payment volume in the fourth quarter of last year grew 23.9% year-on-year to 16.3 trillion KRW. During this period, external payment volume reached 7.7 trillion KRW, a 50.1% increase. Offline payment volume more than doubled compared to the same period last year due to increased reservation and order payments.
Content sales last year rose 37.4% year-on-year to 1.733 trillion KRW. This was driven by growth in webtoon content sales and related intellectual property (IP) revenue. Content adapted from webtoon IPs performed well, leading to re-engagement of users with the original content. Alongside this, platform enhancements such as AI personalized recommendations increased the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU). In the case of Snow, AI products within the camera app gained popularity globally, increasing the number of paid subscribers.
Cloud sales reached 477.2 billion KRW, up 11.0% year-on-year. Usage fees for the large language model (LLM) HyperCLOVA were generated in business-to-business (B2B) transactions, and paid subscribers for the collaboration tool Line Works increased.
Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said, "Despite challenging internal and external conditions in 2023, we achieved steady sales growth and worked to strengthen profitability through prudent cost management. This year, Naver will focus its capabilities on enhancing competitiveness in core businesses such as search and commerce based on AI and data."
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