Naver said on the 7th that it posted revenue of 3.3888 trillion won and operating profit of 520.3 billion won in the second quarter this year.
Revenue rose 16.2% from a year earlier, driven by solid performance in core businesses such as advertising and commerce and growth in the global C2C (consumer-to-consumer) business. It marked a record quarterly revenue, surpassing the first-quarter record this year (3.2411 trillion won) in just one quarter.
By business institutional sector, revenue was ▲Naver platform 1.9022 trillion won ▲financial platform 470.7 billion won ▲global challenge 1.0159 trillion won.
Revenue from the Naver platform increased 12.3% from a year earlier. In particular, the artificial intelligence (AI) briefing ads, officially launched at the end of last month, proved their potential as a new advertising revenue source, recording a click-through conversion rate more than 30% higher and a purchase conversion rate more than three times higher than existing search ads.
Revenue from the financial platform increased 16.0% from a year earlier. In the second quarter this year, Npay payment volume was 25.2 trillion won, up 21.0% from a year earlier on the back of Smart Store growth and continued expansion of the external ecosystem. Naver has entered the business AI platform business in earnest with the offline integrated terminal "Npay Connect," and plans to create new monetization opportunities by integrating online and offline data to enhance competitiveness across the Naver ecosystem.
The global challenge area increased 24.4% from a year earlier as the C2C business led growth. C2C revenue jumped 74.9% from a year earlier as strengthening competitiveness at Wallapop, Poshmark, and SODA sustained growth in transaction value and revenue. Content revenue rose 0.5% from a year earlier, and enterprise revenue increased 21.3% from a year earlier on growth in B2B revenue related to AI and digital twins.
In contrast, operating profit decreased 0.2% from a year earlier due to factors such as AI infrastructure investment.
Revenue related to Naver's AI factory business being pursued with Nvidia is expected to begin in the first half of next year.
Choi Soo-yeon, Naver's CEO, said, "Naver recently formed a strategic partnership with Nvidia and, in advancing the AI factory business, built a foundation to expand the business quickly while minimizing upfront capital burden," adding, "By securing customers preemptively for initial operating capacity through Nvidia's ecosystem and our base of corporate and public-sector clients, including global large clients, we will generate meaningful revenue and profit early and secure a new growth engine in the global AI computing market."