NHN Q2 Gaming Declines, Payments, Commerce, and Cloud Soar

Published 13 Aug.2021 08:46(KST)

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] NHN announced on the 13th that its second-quarter sales reached 461.7 billion KRW, and operating profit was 23.8 billion KRW. This represents a 14% increase in sales and a 10% decrease in operating profit compared to the previous year.

NHN's gaming business recorded somewhat sluggish results, but the payment & advertising, commerce, and technology sectors achieved their highest quarterly sales.

By segment, game sales amounted to 86.9 billion KRW, down 17.6% year-on-year. The company explained that this was due to seasonal off-peak effects and the absence of offline events caused by COVID-19.

The payment & advertising business grew 25.1% year-on-year to 196.2 billion KRW, marking the highest quarterly sales. The expansion of NHN Korea Cyber Payment's payment gateway (PG) sales and the advertising business drove strong performance. NHN Payco's Payco Order transaction amount tripled compared to the previous year, and mobile meal tickets also grew by 65%, playing a key role.

Commerce sales reached 79.6 billion KRW, up 19.2% year-on-year, setting a quarterly record. NHN Commerce's PG and solution sales increased, and NHN Global's sales grew due to the revitalization of the U.S. retail market.

The technology sector saw significant growth as NHN Cloud business expanded. Technology sales were 60 billion KRW, up 51.3% year-on-year, marking the highest quarterly sales.

NHN, which had gaming as its core business, began laying the foundation for substantial growth centered on cloud and collaboration tools as new businesses emerged. NHN Cloud plans to spin off as a specialized cloud company next year and pursue an initial public offering (IPO). The collaboration solution 'NHN Dooray!' launched as an independent corporation on the 1st and is currently expanding its business.

Content segment sales increased 15.9% year-on-year to 45.9 billion KRW, influenced by increased B2B sales of NHN Bugs, content production by NHN Ticketlink, and improved sales of NHN Comico.

Jung Woo-jin, CEO of NHN, said, "In the second quarter of this year, we recorded the highest quarterly sales in new business areas such as payment & advertising, commerce, and technology, reaffirming our competitiveness and potential as a comprehensive IT company. We will continue to expand our proprietary technologies such as cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) and aim to become a 'global top-tier tech company' by 2030 through the establishment of independent corporations."