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With the news from this morning, a brief rundown on Naver's business deals from the past few months.
Naver signs an MOU with SM Entertainment to launch Beyond Live, an online streaming concert service
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3076063
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3076063
JYP Entertainment joins the Beyond Live venture with Naver and SM Entertainment
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2020/08/04/entertainment/kpop/Beyond-LIVE-Beyond-LIVE-Corporation-SM-Entertainment/20200804183607550.html
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2020/08/04/entertainment/kpop/Beyond-LIVE-Beyond-LIVE-Corporation-SM-Entertainment/20200804183607550.html
Naver invests ₩100b in SM Ent into their 2 affiliates SMEJ Plus & Mystic Story, and a different fund for new video content. SMEJ Plus operates the company's fanclubs via the Lysn app, which has been integrated with VLive's Fanship.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200803000774
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200803000774
Big Hit (₩7b) and YG (₩5b) invest in Zepeto, Naver's app for making 3D avatars. "Big Hit and YG would create value in the global market using their intellectual property rights and ZEPETO's augmented reality avatar service."
http://www.ajudaily.com/view/20201013075004107
http://www.ajudaily.com/view/20201013075004107
Naver and CJ Group sign a share-swap deal, giving Naver 7.85% of CJ Logistics (3rd largest stockholder), 4.996% of CJ ENM (3rd largest stockholder), 6.26% Studio Dragon (2nd largest stockholder). CJ Group got 1.24% of Naver. ++
https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?year=2020&no=1099451
https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?year=2020&no=1099451
Naver doesn't have a OTT platform (or any real video content) but it has ~42m users. CJ has its own OTT platform TVING, so together, they plan on expanding that platform and get a bigger market share from other OTT providers like Netflix, Wavve and WatchaPlay.
"Under the agreement, CJ ENM and Studio Dragon would own the rights to produce movie and TV adaptations of Naver’s webtoons and webnovels, with an aim to market them to a global audience."
Recently, it was reported that Naver acquired Wattpad for $600m.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/19/wattpad-the-storytelling-platform-is-selling-to-south-koreas-naver-for-600-million/
Recently, it was reported that Naver acquired Wattpad for $600m.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/19/wattpad-the-storytelling-platform-is-selling-to-south-koreas-naver-for-600-million/
Last November, Korea Times reported that BH and Naver were going to launch a joint venture in the US called NaverBe.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2020/11/133_299079.html
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2020/11/133_299079.html
Today, BH and Naver's share-swap deal was reported by Maeil Business with sources from the investment banking industry. The article says that the 2 companies will swap stocks to "create more synergy between Naver's VLive and BH's Weverse."
https://n.news.naver.com/article/009/0004737824
https://n.news.naver.com/article/009/0004737824
Naver would increase their content from BH and their artists and BH would get logistical/data analytics from Naver. Looks like Naver is continuing to invest in content creators/entertainment companies. (YG in 2017, SM in 2020)
Both BH and Naver have told reporters, "They cannot confirm the news report."
https://n.news.naver.com/entertain/article/018/0004835728
https://n.news.naver.com/article/018/0004835720
https://n.news.naver.com/entertain/article/018/0004835728 https://n.news.naver.com/article/018/0004835720
so the pattern is Naver is investing in entertainment companies (YG, SM, BH) and content creators (Wattpad, CJ ENM) to expand in that sector by offering their high # of MAUs (monthly active users), data analytics and logistics.
