South Korean internet giant Naver Corp. posted record quarterly operating profit as its core search business returned to double-digit growth for the first time in more than two years.
Operating profit jumped 38.2% to 525.3 billion won ($396 million) in the third quarter, while revenue rose 11.1% to 2.72 trillion won. The search platform segment grew 11% year-on-year to 997.7 billion won, marking its strongest performance since early 2022.
The company strengthened its AI capabilities by expanding indexed documents by 50% and enhancing search reliability. This led to a 30% increase in clicks on credible sources from public institutions.
Naver’s e-commerce gross merchandise value reached 12.5 trillion won, up 4.3% from a year earlier. The company launched Naver Plus Store in October to boost product discovery and plans to release it as a standalone app in first half 2024.
The fintech division saw transaction volume grow 22.1% to 18.6 trillion won, with offline payments surging 78%. Meanwhile, Webtoon revenue increased 11.6% to 424 billion won in its first full quarter as a public company.
CFO Namsun Kim said the company recovered from a net debt position to net cash through “rigorous balance sheet management.” Naver recently completed a 405.1 billion won share buyback program and plans to cancel those shares by November 13.
