Naver Achieves Record Quarterly Revenue with Advanced AI; Operating Profit Up 7% Year-on-Year

Suyeon Choi, CEO of Naver Photo by Yonhap News

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Naver has reported solid results for the first quarter of this year, driven by the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) across key business sectors such as shopping and advertising.

On April 30, Naver announced that its revenue for the first quarter of 2026 reached 3.2411 trillion won, and operating profit was 541.8 billion won, representing year-on-year increases of 16.3% and 7.2%, respectively.

The consolidated revenue for the first quarter reached an all-time high, supported by robust performance in core business areas through the integration of AI and the accelerated growth of its C2C (consumer-to-consumer) business.

By business segment, revenue was as follows: Naver Platform 1.8398 trillion won, Financial Platform 459.7 billion won, and Global Expansion 941.6 billion won.

Beginning in the first quarter of this year, Naver changed its revenue breakdown to better reflect both its core business and new business opportunities. The categories shifted from the existing Search Platform, Commerce, Fintech, Content, and Enterprise to: Naver Platform (Advertising: search/display ads, commerce ads, etc.; Services: shopping, membership, place, etc.), Financial Platform (Npay), and Global Expansion (C2C: KREAM, SODA, Poshmark, Wallapop; Content: Webtoon, SNOW; Enterprise: Naver Cloud Platform, LINE WORKS, Labs, etc.).

Naver Platform revenue rose by 14.7% year-on-year but decreased by 0.6% quarter-on-quarter to 1.8398 trillion won. Advertising revenue grew by 9.3% year-on-year, with the contribution of AI to revenue surpassing 50%, driven by advanced targeting solutions such as ADVoost. Service revenue increased by 35.6% year-on-year, led by the commerce ecosystem including Naver Plus Store, membership, and N Delivery.

Financial Platform revenue reached 459.7 billion won, up 18.9% year-on-year. The total payment amount processed by Npay in the first quarter was 24.2 trillion won, a 23.4% increase year-on-year, fueled by the growth of Smart Store and continued expansion into external ecosystems. Naver plans to further enhance the integration between order, payment, and regular customer data accumulated through the offline unified terminal 'Npay Connect' and search/reservation data from Place, aiming to extend its online competitiveness to the offline domain.

The Global Expansion segment recorded revenue of 941.6 billion won, up 18.4% year-on-year and 5.1% quarter-on-quarter, driven by rapid growth in the C2C business. C2C revenue increased by 57.7% year-on-year, attributed to the completion of the acquisition of the Spanish secondhand trading platform Wallapop, as well as the growth of Poshmark, KREAM, and SODA. The Enterprise business was up 18.8% year-on-year, boosted by AI, digital twin-related projects, and the growth of LINE WORKS.

Cho Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, stated, "Naver is a unique platform that possesses the integrated flow of search, commerce, and payment infrastructure, which are the core competitive advantages in the era of AI agents. Centered on our 'Executional AI' strategy, we will build a virtuous cycle that enhances user satisfaction and increases monetization, while continuously seeking new opportunities in global expansion areas such as C2C and Sovereign AI, in order to accelerate overall revenue growth."

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