This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 5:06 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2025.
Yanolja is facing a delay in its U.S. listing as it is setting a valuation target that is too high. Chief executive Lee Soo-jin is said to be aiming for a corporate value of 13 trillion to 15 trillion won. Yanolja selected Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as lead managers last year with a goal of listing on the Nasdaq, but there has been no progress for more than a year.
Contrary to Lee's hopes, the market's view of Yanolja's corporate value falls short of the 10 trillion won range. There are concerns that if the founder insists on a valuation of up to 15 trillion won, pursuing a listing could be difficult next year as well.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry, Lee recently conveyed to management and the listing underwriters an intention to go public at a valuation of 13 trillion to 15 trillion won.
According to a Bloomberg report in June last year, Yanolja planned to begin Nasdaq listing procedures as early as July of the same year. The target corporate value was known to be $7 billion to $9 billion (about 10.28 trillion to 13.22 trillion won). However, there has yet to be any word that the listing is moving forward.
The 13 trillion to 15 trillion won reportedly sought by Lee is very high compared to Yanolja's valuation at the time of its large-scale fundraising four years ago. In 2021, SoftBank Vision Fund invested about 2.3 trillion won in Yanolja, valuing the company at 8 trillion won at the time.
The gap is even wider compared with over-the-counter prices. Based on Securities Plus Unlisted, Yanolja's market capitalization is about 2.8 trillion won. Calculated using the three-year high (on June 10 last year), a corporate value of 7.28 trillion won is derived, but that is still only half of the price Lee is seeking.
As a result, there is talk in the market that it is uncertain whether Yanolja can begin its listing next year. The outlook is that unless Lee lowers expectations, a listing will be difficult.
Even when applying valuations of similar corporations listed on overseas stock markets, 13 trillion to 15 trillion won does not appear realistic.
Yanolja calls itself a global SaaS corporation, because valuations are set much higher than in lodging. Taking this into account, let's apply the average EV/sales (enterprise value divided by revenue) multiple of 5 to 7 times for global SaaS corporations to Yanolja. Since Yanolja's revenue for the first to third quarters this year is 761 billion won, assuming annual revenue of about 1 trillion won, applying a 5 to 7 times multiple and then adding 200 billion won in net cash would estimate Yanolja's corporate value at about 5.4 trillion to 7.5 trillion won.
Calculated using the EV/EBITDA (enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) method, Yanolja's corporate value drops further. Considering that global SaaS corporations have an EV/EBITDA multiple of around 18 to 20 times, applying Yanolja's estimated EBITDA for this year (about 120 billion won) suggests a fair corporate value in the mid-2 trillion won range.
Applying the average valuations of lodging platform players such as Airbnb and Expedia to Yanolja suggests a corporate value in the high-1 trillion to low-4 trillion won range. Using the EV/EBITDA method yields the high-1 trillion won range, while the EV/sales method produces the low-4 trillion won range.
An IB industry official noted, "However, since these are valuations of global corporations, Yanolja, whose revenue scale and market are much smaller, should rightly receive a corresponding discount."