Naver Accelerates Entry into Japanese E-Book Market with 170 Billion KRW Investment

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Naver is planning a new investment worth approximately 170 billion KRW to target the Japanese e-book market.

According to industry sources on the 4th, Naver's subsidiary Line Digital Frontier has decided to make a public tender offer for shares of "eBook Initiative Japan," which is listed on the Japanese stock market.

Naver intends to invest up to 16.049 billion yen (about 171.6 billion KRW) in Line Digital Frontier through Webtoon Entertainment. Currently, the shares of Line Digital Frontier are divided between Naver's subsidiaries Webtoon Entertainment (70%) and Naver Webtoon (30%).

Once the public tender offer is completed early next year, eBook Initiative Japan will be delisted and incorporated as a subsidiary of Line Digital Frontier.

This aggressive investment is due to the rapid growth of the Japanese e-book market recently. According to the Japan Publishing Science Institute, the size of the Japanese e-book market last year was 393.1 billion yen (about 4.2 trillion KRW), marking a 28% growth compared to the previous year.

Naver is expected to integrate the e-book business operated by its related party SoftBank to strengthen its market approach. Z Holdings, a joint venture between Naver and SoftBank, stated, "By integrating the existing e-book business under Webtoon Entertainment, we aim to strengthen cooperation with the Webtoon Entertainment Group, which actively participates in global investments, and expect greater growth through business synergies across various areas."

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