NAVER Q1 2025: Revenue Up 10.3%, Net Profit Falls 23.8%

Seoul, South Korea - NAVER Corp reported a 10.3% year-on-year revenue increase in the first quarter of 2025. 

However, according to its financial results released on Friday, its performance showed a 3.4% decline from the previous quarter.

The company posted revenue of KRW 2,786.8 billion ($1.90 billion) for the January-March period, up from KRW 2,526.1 billion a year earlier. 

This increase was driven primarily by growth in its search platform and commerce segments.

Operating profit rose 15.0% year-on-year to KRW 505.3 billion, with operating margin expanding to 18.1%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the same quarter last year. 

Adjusted EBITDA, which includes stock-based compensation, reached KRW 701.0 billion, up 20.7% year-on-year.

Net profit declined 23.8% year-on-year to KRW 423.7 billion, which the company attributed to base effects from gains on subsidiary disposals in the first quarter of 2024, including NAVER Z.

The company's search platform revenue, its largest business segment, grew 11.9% to KRW 1,012.7 billion compared to the previous year, with search advertising up 8.2% and display advertising increasing 7.3%. 

However, this segment saw a 4.9% sequential decline from the fourth quarter.

Commerce revenue increased 12.0% year-on-year to KRW 787.9 billion, with on-platform gross merchandise value growing 10.1% to KRW 12.8 trillion. 

The company cited the launch of NAVER Plus Store and N Delivery renewal as growth drivers despite challenging macroeconomic conditions.

NAVER's fintech segment recorded an 11.0% year-on-year increase to KRW 392.7 billion, with total payment volume (TPV) growing 17.4% to KRW 19.6 trillion. 

Non-captive TPV showed stronger growth at 23.7% year-on-year, reaching KRW 10.2 trillion.

Content revenue, which includes Webtoon and SNOW, grew more modestly at 2.9% year-on-year to KRW 459.3 billion. 

Enterprise solutions saw 14.7% growth to KRW 134.2 billion, with LINEWORKS paid IDs growing 12.7% and contributing to a 27.0% revenue increase for that product.

Operating expenses rose 9.3% year-on-year to KRW 2,281.5 billion, with marketing expenses up 17.1% due to increased promotional activities. 

Infrastructure expenses increased 11.4% year-on-year with greater depreciation on new computing assets, including GPUs.

At the end of the quarter, the company's consolidated cash and cash equivalents plus short-term financial instruments stood at KRW 7,490.2 billion, with borrowings and debentures totaling KRW 3,258.0 billion.

NAVER paid a final dividend of KRW 168.4 billion, equivalent to KRW 1,130 per share, on April 16.