Naver's Lee Hae-jin Calms Bonus Controversy with 'Stock Options'

Lee Hae-jin, Global Investment Officer (GIO) and founder of Naver

[Asia Economy Reporters Kang Nahum and Boo Aeri] Naver's management team recently addressed the controversy over performance bonuses by emphasizing the 'stock options' that have been granted to employees, aiming to reassure the staff.

Naver's founder and Global Investment Officer (GIO) Lee Hae-jin, CEO Han Seong-sook, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Park Sang-jin held a 'Companion Day' on the 25th to share the company's compensation philosophy with all employees and conduct a Q&A session about overall company management. Companion Day was broadcast live via the internal system from 2 p.m., with over 3,000 employees participating.

Regarding the performance bonus controversy, CEO Han stated, "The nature of internet business is that new challenges do not immediately translate into visible revenue growth," emphasizing that "additional compensation focused on long-term growth is necessary."

She added, "Rather than short-term profits, we will reward organizations that demonstrate ‘movement’ toward growth," and said, "We are considering differentiated new welfare systems suitable for new global movements. We will continuously strive to achieve the highest level of total compensation in the industry."

On this day, Naver's management highlighted stock options as part of performance compensation. They emphasized the rare ‘stock option for all employees’ system, which is unusual for a publicly traded company with a very large market capitalization.

Since 2019, Naver has granted stock options worth approximately 10 million KRW annually to all employees. Currently, the stock price has nearly tripled since the grant, allowing each employee to realize a profit of about 19 million KRW. The initially granted stock options can be exercised starting from the 27th of this month.

CEO Han said, "Although we communicated the compensation philosophy and the purpose of the stock option system to employees in December 2018, with 1,900 new members joining over the past three years, it is necessary to share this again."

GIO Lee also said, "One of the most genuinely joyful things this year is that we have been able to share the value of past achievements, which employees worked hard to create, not only with shareholders but also with employees through stock options for the first time."

Meanwhile, GIO Lee expressed his intention to hold a session within the company to share Naver's global challenge strategy. He said, "For business, we always think about strategic investments rather than financial investments. Regarding investments and global challenge strategies, let's meet in two weeks," previewing the next briefing session.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.