![[종합] Han Sung-suk’s second year, his first year, he wrote a record high](http://img.lb.inews24.com/facebookexternalhit/face/626x352/image_joy/202101/1606185594694_1_131203.jpg "[종합] Han Sung-suk’s second year, his first year, he wrote a record high")
[아이뉴스24 윤지혜 기자] Naver recorded the highest sales ever amid the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) last year, when the second phase of the representative Han Sung-suk system began. Beyond search and shopping, it diversified new growth engines through fintech, content, and cloud.
Naver announced on the 28th that last year’s consolidated sales rose 21.8% year-on-year to a record high of 5,334.1 billion won. The search platform, which accounts for the largest portion of sales, has only grown slightly, but thanks to the rapid growth of the new business division.
Actually ▲Search platform sales increased by 5.6% year-on-year to KRW 2.83.1 trillion ▲ Commerce increased by 37.6% to KRW 1.89 trillion ▲ Fintech increased by 66.6% to KRW 677.5 billion ▲ Content increased by 48.8% to KRW 466.2 billion ▲ Cloud increased 41.4% to KRW 277.3 billion.
Annual operating profit increased by 5.2% to 1.215 trillion won, and it has been three years since 2017 that Naver’s operating profit reached 1 trillion won.
However, considering the fact that Line’s earnings, which had recorded losses of several hundred billion won, were excluded, the growth of operating profit was below expectations. This is interpreted as the impact of expanding investment in new business. Previously, Naver excluded Line’s performance from its consolidated financial statements from 3Q due to management integration between Line and Z Holdings, the operator of’Yahoo Japan’.
◆Naver Shopping, Performance Wings… Shared growth with Naver Pay
The commerce business division, the number one contributor to Naver’s growth, recorded KRW 316.8 billion in sales in the fourth quarter, up 44.6% year-on-year. It is a third of last year’s sales in the fourth quarter. In general, 4Q is the peak season for the retail industry, and demand for online shopping surged due to strengthening social distancing.
CEO Han said, “Smart store transaction volume grew 76% year-on-year, and in December, due to the peak season effect, it increased 91%.” It has more than doubled compared to,” he said.
Smart store users are also on the rise. The number of smart store payers exceeded 20 million, and the number of payments per person and unit price increased by 43% and 47%, respectively. Naver Plus Membership also secured 2.5 million members in half a year and locked in loyal customers. In particular, it was found that customers with less than 200,000 won per year increased their transaction amount more than 5 times after signing up for membership.
Thanks to the growth of commerce, Naver Pay is also on the rise. In the fourth quarter, Naver Pay’s transaction amount increased 68% year-on-year to 7.8 trillion won. Naver Pay offline payments became possible at 70,000 affiliated stores in November last year, and the scale of payments is expected to expand further as it plans to partner with several brands this year.
Naver Chief Financial Officer Park Sang-jin (CFO) said, “The search platform and commerce and fintech have an organic growth relationship, and as the total shopping transaction amount (GMV) increases in the Naver ecosystem, business and growth opportunities are greater.” This is expected to grow by more than 20%, and Naver Shopping growth will be close to this.”
◆Han Seong-suk 2nd period, content development… “Funds for global advancement”
If the first period of Han Sung-suk ho focused on commerce, it is not an exaggeration to say that the second period put his life and death in the content business.
The Naver content business is continuing its success in the global market based on webtoon intellectual property rights (IP). Last year, the transaction amount of Naver Webtoon was 820 billion won, exceeding the original target of 800 billion won. At this pace, it is not unreasonable to exceed 1 trillion won this year. Monthly active users (MAU) reached a record high of 72 million.
In particular, as Naver Webtoon’Sweet Home’ is produced as an original Netflix series of the same name, a virtuous cycle is being created in which more users seek Naver Webtoon. Sweet Home, which recorded 1.2 billion views in global cumulative views, succeeded in a box office hit by 22 million overseas households in one month after being introduced on Netflix.
In addition, Naver is speeding up its global IP business by acquiring the global web novel platform’Whatpad’. Whatpad is a North American platform with 1 billion web novels, and if you simply add Naver Webtoon and Whatpad users, Naver becomes the world’s largest storytelling platform operator, used by more than 160 million people.
CEO Han said, “We will create a virtuous cycle model in which the number of global users and creators increases by exchanging synergy between webtoons and web novels.” I will look for new business opportunities,” he said.
In addition, Naver is also challenging the global entertainment market. To this end, Naver decided to join hands with Big Hit following YG and SM. It was decided to build a global fan community platform by integrating Naver’s’V Live’ and Big Hit’Weverse’.
CEO Han said, “By combining Naver’s content live streaming technology with K-pop contents owned by Big Hit, we will secure business opportunities for the entire entertainment value chain (value chain) that starts with Naver live performances and leads to fan communities and commerce.” “We will expand beyond Korea to regions with high demand for K-pop, such as the US, Europe, South America, etc.”
Naver is also issuing corporate bonds at home and abroad in the first half of this year to invest in the content business. CFO Park said, “We plan to issue corporate bonds at home and abroad in the first half of the year to provide investment resources to accelerate growth, such as Watpad,” he said. “We will accelerate our global advancement through various investment opportunities.”
Reporter Yoon Ji-hye [email protected]