Enter IPO, Webtoon executives communicate about week’s plans and market trends

Webtoon Entertainment, the company that is transforming the way we read comics month by month development by adapting common IP into streaming media, motion pictures, animation, video games and realistic novels, recently announced its long-awaited IPO. Was. The company, listed on NASDAQ under the ticker image WBTN, went live with a starting price of $21, according to Cent. WBTN ended its first year buying and selling issues 2 to 23 (9.5%) on a volume of 6.23 million shares, which is related to its top for the year.

In an exclusive one-on-one interview near market close, WEBTOON Founder and CEO Junkoo Kim and Chief Strategy Officer Youngsoo Kim discussed the impact of the IPO on the company’s global expansion strategy.

Webtoon executives Junku Kim and Youngsoo Kim on IPO, market expansion, creators and content, and AI

^{Q: Was the market reaction to the IPO in line with your expectations?}

Junku Kim: Rather than having a goal for the associated fees in the first year, I really have a long-term view. Sure, there was a one-time maintenance price increase of 10%, but this is most noticeable as part of our longer progress.

^{Q How will the IPO proceeds fund Webtoon’s larger operations?}

Youngsoo Kim: In fact we have already completed some running money current closing days. We can use the IPO proceeds to tick industry boxes like developing more complex AI tools for our creators, expanding our content library, hiring more local creators, and increasing our exposure.

^{During the pandemic, we saw an increase in consumption of various types of content, including webtoons, but now there has been a curtailment. What impact has this had on your revenue?}

JK: There are two metrics to focus on in our business: customer acquisition and engagement. We simply connect with a larger number of customers, however even if the user base has become stagnant, if engagement increases, we also see an increase in revenue. With our platform, most of the content is separate, although there is a Rapid Go that allows families to quickly access untouched episodes. As readers engage more with a name, we see the next conversion rate from paying customers. All our content is serialized on a weekly basis, which is why users develop an addiction of coming back to the platform every hour. That’s why we’ll be gathering consistent subscribers, or even the nearest COVID, we haven’t lost a bunch of readers. The serialization component really helped us.

YK: Some of our key indicators are moderate subscriber tenure on our platform and moderate revenue in line with paying customers, and either one of these is growing regularly. We see about $30 million spent each year.

^{Has the downturn in streaming media funding affected your licensing and outdoor media production plans?}

JK: We have a lot of material. In the past, 50% of Korean Netflix originals were tailored to webtoon IPs. The ratio of manufacturing adjustments, though, is a stream that could move forward. Will this happen with TV broadcasters or not? streamer? OTT? Who we are working with may change, but the portion of our IP that is being adapted will not, as the demand for content and IP continues to grow.

YK: One of the most important benefits for our partners is that the IPs on our platform have already been vetted. We now have 55 million content episodes on our platform; Each year, there are 100,000 untouched episodes. Now we have all the information regarding demographics, regions and customers tell us what’s going on. That’s why we seek out peers with IPs full of knowledge – that’s the voice we value. As a result, streamers enjoy racing with us.

^{Webtoon will remain dependent on sovereign content creators for its good fortune. How are you keeping creators happy with the relationship, especially with respect to media and licensing trends?}

JK: We create life partners with our creators for good fortune. We do not own the content; He has all the rights. We simply help them succeed financially, while at the same time paying attention to their individual needs. We strive to deliver an unmatched value proposition to our creators.

^{How does this type of valuation compare to, say, Disney, or alternative corporations that own their IP outright?}

JK: Our objective is almost certainly the same as Disney’s – to create the right IP for a family’s needs – although Disney invests larger amounts in an IP. With 24 million creators, we have a huge variety of content, and we have the knowledge to find and vet content that we can develop through optimization. Despite other viewpoints, our objective is now the same.

^{What kind of investments are you making in AI?}

YK: We believe AI gear will help our creators in some ways. Our focus center helps them to become with higher productivity in less month. We’re also considering an advice engine and AI coverage for our creators. We do not believe that AI can replace our creators. This could potentially help them perform better financially.

^{Japan is a rich and notable market for comics, manga and webtoons. What is the promotion you are doing there and what are your options to make it bigger?}

YK: There are two technologies worth noting in Eastern Bazaar: for creators and for buyers. Our platform is very attractive for creators. It’s the #1 virtual app in Japan in terms of massive revenue, and we’re the #1 platform internationally as well. They want to visit their core market again and again, but they also want their content to spread around the world, and we’re the only player that can make that possible. Recently we had a name that did really well, not only in Japan, but also in Korea and other markets. Those instances may be more or less exactly the right function type.

For buyers in Japan who have already read a bundle of manga, when they start switching to the webtoon layout, they will find the webtoon content already very similar. So once they start enjoying what we need to trade, they’ll be really locked into the platform. We believe that manga readers will convert into safe webtoon readers. That’s why we are the leader in all apps, even entertainment apps, in Japan. This is an extremely important market and we believe that, with the IPO, we will improve our position in Japan.

^{To add the rest?}

JK: The simple thing is that we are very excited by this date and we see a huge expansion opportunity, especially in the US market. And we’re just starting to enter that market. This could really boost our expansion.

Regarding Webtoon IPO

According to the company, the sale of 15 million shares of common stock is expected to generate approximately $315 million, in addition to the 30-day underwriters’ opportunity to purchase an additional 2.25 million shares. This amounts to a valuation of around $2.7 billion.

WEBTOON’s parent company, South Korean technology and entertainment conglomerate Never Company, can purchase a distant factor of 2,380,952 shares at $21 (normal earnings, approximately $50 million). Naver will hold more than 60% of the corporate shares closest to the IPO.

According to the Method S-1 filed with the US SEC, Webtoon Entertainment reported a net loss of $144.8 million for 2023, up from a net loss of $132.5 million in 2023. Despite the net loss, the company’s total revenue is expected to increase by 18.8% to $1.28 billion in 2023. Adjusted EBITDA for the day ended 2023 was $11.7M, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 0.9%. The company reported a profit of $6.2 million in the first three months of 2024, compared to a loss of $18.2 million at the closing day of the same period.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley are acting as governor bookrunning managers for the offering. JPMorgan and Evercore ISI are acting as active bookrunning managers for the proposed offering. Deutsche Deposit Securities, UBS Funding Deposit and HSBC are acting as joint bookrunning managers. Raymond James and Liontree appear as co-managers.

From comics to media

WEBTOON was founded in 2005 by comics lover and tech entrepreneur Junkoo Kim as an easy platform to read and distribute comics on mobile devices, using a vertically-scrolling layout optimized for small screens. As cell phones became more strident and consumerist around the world, webtoons garnered a large following of fans and creators who used the layout and design of cell comics to tell a variety of stories in a variety of styles from published comics and manga. Give importance to rhythm.

Nine hundred IPs that began as webtoons were developed into motion pictures, streaming layouts, video games, books, and consumer products, including the Netflix layout Candy House, the Disney layout Vigilante, and the unused York Times best-selling A realistic copy was included. Vidya Olympus,

The company claims to have approximately 170 million active users in more than 150 countries around the world, with South Korea, Japan, and North America being the major countries. WEBTOON will rely on its author ecosystem of over 24 million creators, who monetize their content through subscriptions, promotions, products, and licensing and guidelines. The company says it has paid out $2.8 billion to creators between 2017 and 2022. The top 100 creators around the world earn an average of $1 million per day, while the average professional salary is $48,000.

Different types of rooms to grow in

One of WEBTOON’s most powerful pitches to potential investors is that, despite some fresh contraction in the market post-COVID, there is still room to grow. In its road show, Webtoon says it sees a market opportunity of approximately $130 billion in paid content, $680 billion in advertising and $900 billion in IP media volumes. These days, there is less than 1% penetration in North America with “significant runway ahead”.

At this level, there is widespread contracting in the market. Jaden Kang, COO and head of content at webtoon platform Tapas Leisure, owned by Naver’s main South Korean competitor Kakao Leisure, said he and his company are rooting for Webtoon’s IPO to be successful. He said, “The concept of webtoon is still in a very new market stage, so I think the whole industry will get bigger and better as we attract more local creators and readers.” “This is a huge opportunity to increase attention in the US market.”