Webtoon Entertainment Hires Former Baemin Executive Yeon Goeun as CBO...Global Leadership Restructuring

Webtoon Entertainment, the U.S. headquarters of Naver Webtoon, has initiated a leadership restructuring that includes the creation of a Chief Business Officer (CBO) position to strengthen execution and innovation for enhanced global business efficiency.

On April 13 (local time), Webtoon Entertainment announced a series of executive appointments, including appointing Chae Yugi, former head of Korea Service (Naver Webtoon and Series), as Chief Product Officer (CPO), and Yeon Goeun, former Chief Growth Marketing Officer (CGMO) of Woowa Brothers, as CBO.

Naver Webtoon logo. Naver Webtoon

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The newly named CPO, Chae, will oversee Webtoon's product organizations, which previously operated separately by region, including Korea, Japan, and North America, and will be responsible for establishing product strategy. He has previously served as the product operations leader for the English-language service 'WEBTOON' and the Japanese-language service 'Line Manga,' and most recently held the position of head of Korea Service (Naver Webtoon and Series).

Yeon Goeun, who has been appointed to the newly created CBO role, will oversee the global Webtoon and Korea businesses (excluding Japan), leading business areas related to platform growth such as content, creator support, marketing, and growth.

Yeon, the new CBO, has built a global career spanning more than 20 years in strategic consulting, marketing, and growth. She previously served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Samsung Electronics and McKinsey, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Delivery Hero Korea, founder and CEO of clean beauty and living brand Simply O, and CGMO at Woowa Brothers. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School (MBA).

David Lee, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Webtoon Entertainment, will concurrently serve as President of Wattpad. CFO Lee aims to drive performance improvement at Wattpad by strengthening ad-based free content and expanding the creator community. He has work experience at IT and consumer goods companies such as Zynga and Impossible Foods, as well as in the e-commerce division at Best Buy.

Jang Taeyoung, former machine learning (ML) platform leader at Naver Webtoon, has been appointed to oversee artificial intelligence (AI). Jang will lead the enhancement of AI capabilities to support creators and expand users, focusing on internal AI transformation (AX), copyright protection, content recommendations, and translation. He previously worked as a software engineer at Samsung Electronics and has led machine learning and AI services at Naver Webtoon since 2021.

Kim Shinhyung, leader of global strategy and business management at Naver Webtoon, has been appointed head of the IP business. Kim will focus on expanding the IP business, centering on discovering and nurturing mega IPs aimed at global markets. By strengthening the IP value chain-including video, games, and merchandise (MD)-he aims to accelerate global growth and increase creator revenues. Kim has been with Naver Webtoon since 2021, serving as leader of global strategy and business management.

Meanwhile, Webtoon Entertainment will abolish the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) positions, both of which were previously held concurrently by CFO Lee.

Kim Yongsoo, President of Webtoon Entertainment, stated, "In the face of crisis due to intensifying market competition, we will drive bold changes based on a unified global organization and strong execution. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on accelerating the business and innovation, quickly securing the momentum needed to support further growth."

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