Naver Webtoon Acquires 'Ebook Initiative Japan'... Rises to No.1 in Japan's Digital Comics Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Naver Webtoon’s Japanese subsidiary, Line Digital Frontier, has completed the acquisition of the Japanese e-book service company eBook Initiative Japan. With this acquisition, Naver Webtoon is expected to strengthen its influence in the Japanese content industry based on the Japanese language service Line Manga and the well-established eBook Japan in Japan.

Line Digital Frontier, a subsidiary of Naver Webtoon that operates the Japanese webtoon service Line Manga, announced on the 31st that it has secured 100% of the shares of eBook Initiative Japan. Accordingly, eBook Initiative Japan will be incorporated as a subsidiary of Line Digital Frontier.

Founded in 2000, eBook Initiative Japan operates the Japanese e-book service “eBook Japan” and the online paper book sales service “Bookfan.” eBook Japan boasts high public recognition through its linkage with Japan’s leading portal site “Yahoo Japan.” It holds more than 800,000 works, of which 95% of the transaction volume is from comic content.

The combined transaction volume of Line Manga and eBook Japan in 2021 was approximately 800 billion KRW, and the combined monthly active users (MAU) exceeded 20 million. With this acquisition, Naver Webtoon is expected to hold the largest transaction volume among digital comic platforms in Japan.

Through this acquisition, Naver Webtoon expects the synergy between the mobile app-centered Line Manga and the web-centered eBook Japan to further strengthen its influence in the Japanese digital comic market. Various domestic and international webtoon works will be distributed simultaneously on both services, enabling efficient promotion of works. Additionally, enhanced search and exposure through the Yahoo Japan portal is expected to improve app and web accessibility to original content.

Naver Webtoon plans to further strengthen its lineup by adding various Korean webtoons to the Japanese service Line Manga, while simultaneously enhancing local Japanese content and discovering local creators to continuously expand the webtoon ecosystem. The competitiveness of the Japanese webtoon ecosystem is also expected to improve, laying the foundation for entry into the global market.

Kim Jun-gu, CEO of Naver Webtoon, stated, “This acquisition is a decision to take a step forward in the world’s largest comic market, Japan,” and added, “We will focus on solidifying Line Manga’s influence in the Japanese content industry and expanding the webtoon ecosystem together with eBook Japan.”

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