NAVER

5-Year Financial Trend

Note: Starting in Q1 2026, the business segment classification was reorganized from five segments (Search Platform, Commerce, Fintech, Content, Cloud) to three segments (Naver Platform, Financial Platform, Global Challenge). While consolidated totals remain comparable, segment-level figures before 2025 and after 2026 cannot be directly compared.

Q1 2026 Revenue Composition by Segment (New 3-Segment Classification)

Valuation (Factual Multiples)

Note: Separate media reports cite PER 19.17x and PBR 1.42x, but these come from a different source with a different reference date and calculation basis, conflicting with the FnGuide figures; neither can be confirmed as authoritative (cross-verification needed). EV/EBITDA is unavailable.

Competitor Comparison

Kakao's PER of 454.76x is presumed to reflect a sharp decline in net income, though the specific cause is unavailable. Coupang posted Q1 2026 revenue of $8.5 billion (+8% YoY) but swung to a net loss of $266 million (versus net income of $107 million in the same period a year earlier), reflecting slowing growth and deteriorating profitability (Investing.com, ZDNet Korea).

Governance and Shareholding Disclosures

• According to DART business reports, NAVER has a dispersed ownership structure with no single controlling shareholder separately listed, and the National Pension Fund is the only party registered as a related party (business report as of 2025-12-31).
• The National Pension Service's stake declined from 9.25% as of 2025-12-31 to 8.61% as of 2026-03-31, and further declined to 8.22% in the most recent substantial shareholding report (filed 2026-07-01; reason: share disposal).
• The personal shareholding quantity of founder Lee Hae-jin (Chairman of the Board) could not be confirmed from primary sources, as there were no filings within the DART executive/major shareholder ownership status report search period (2024-08-12 to 2026-07-16) (unavailable).
• Total shares outstanding: 156,852,638; treasury shares: 7,272,861 (as of 2025-12-31). Minority shareholders number 1,159,318, accounting for 99.99% of all shareholders and holding 74.98% of shares (DART business report).
• The Board of Directors consists of 4 outside directors (57.1%) out of 7 registered directors; other than one other non-executive director being replaced by CFO Kim Hee-cheol (an inside director) as of the Q1 2026 quarterly report, the outside director ratio remains unchanged.
• Treasury share acquisition filings by registered and non-registered executives, including CEO Choi Soo-yeon and CFO Kim Hee-cheol, have been continuously confirmed since 2024, and in June-July 2026, multiple performance-based share acquisition filings by division-head-level executives continued.

Supply and Demand

Supply-and-demand indicators for the period 2026-06-25 to 2026-07-25 — including trading activity by foreign, institutional, and individual investors, securities lending balance ratio, and foreign ownership ratio — could not be retrieved due to missing KRX login credentials (KRX_ID/KRX_PW), and all items remain unavailable. Margin loan balances also remain unavailable, as the research tool itself does not support this data.

Macro Environment

• On 2026-07-24, the KOSPI index fell 406.27 points (6.72%) from the previous day to close at 6,690.62. This was reported as a result of a combination of rising U.S. 10-year Treasury yields (4.71%, up for four consecutive trading days), sharp oil price volatility stemming from the Middle East, and market concerns over the sustainability of global AI investment.
• The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate from 2.50% to 2.75% on 2026-07-16, and Korea's 10-year government bond yield also rose to around 4.40%, the highest level since October 2022.
• The KRW/USD exchange rate closed the Seoul session at KRW 1,466.8 on 2026-07-24 (down KRW 13.3 from the previous day), but rebounded to KRW 1,474.2 in overnight trading. WTI crude oil was $87.88 per barrel on the same day (-4.67% from the previous day), with volatility widening in July due to Middle East geopolitical risk.
• Given the structure of the large-scale, dollar-denominated AI infrastructure investment NAVER is pursuing with Nvidia and Brookfield, the company is assessed to have high exposure to KRW/USD exchange rate and U.S. interest rate movements (specific sensitivity figures are unavailable).

Risk Factors (Fact-Based)

• Q1 2026 net income declined approximately -31% YoY, affected by expanded AI infrastructure investment (absolute figure unavailable).
• The government is pursuing online platform regulation legislation as a key task for the second half of 2026, with discussions underway on measures to prohibit large platforms designated as market-dominant operators from self-preferencing and tying practices (passage timing and quantified financial impact are unavailable).
• NAVER is among eight large platforms designated as subject to the disinformation law (amended Network Act, effective 2026-07-07 and 2026-07-11), which may increase the burden of content verification and moderation (specific obligations are unavailable).
• In the commerce segment, while Coupang experienced slowing growth and deteriorating profitability, competitive intensity itself is expected to continue; in the advertising segment, competition continues as Kakao has also posted strong results.

Recent Developments

• 2026-07-24: Executives including Chairman Lee Hae-jin, CEO Choi Soo-yeon, and CFO Kim Hee-cheol visited Brookfield's headquarters in Canada, and industry analysis raised the possibility of a funding partnership in the large-scale AI infrastructure investment program that Brookfield operates with Nvidia and the Kuwait Investment Authority (Korea Economic Daily).
• 2026-07-24: The Regulatory Reform Committee recommended that the Financial Services Commission allow an exception to the major shareholder qualification review under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, related to Naver Financial's pursuit of incorporating Dunamu (amended Specified Financial Information Act takes effect 2026-08-20).
• 2026-06-01 to 06-02: Nvidia's CEO officially announced Naver Cloud as a key partner at GTC Taipei.
• 2026-06-05: Nvidia's CEO visited Korea and held a livestream with Chairman Lee Hae-jin on Naver's Chzzk platform.
• 2026-04-30: Announced Q1 2026 results (revenue KRW 3.2411 trillion, operating profit KRW 541.8 billion).
• 2026-02-01: Expanded the C-level executive team from three to six members (newly appointed Kim Kwang-hyun as CDO, Yoo Bong-seok as CRO, and Hwang Soon-bae as CHRO).