Naver's second-quarter 2026 revenue increased by 16.2%, with operating profit flat. Naver platform (includes search and commerce) revenue growth was 12.3%, with financial technology growing at 16%.
Naver’s domestic online advertising revenue will continue its strong growth momentum via increased e-commerce-related ads.
Bears
Google could continue to take internet search market share in South Korea, eventually killing Naver’s cash cow, or at least reducing its milk production. AI could also be a threat to search in general.
Naver has been the leading search portal in South Korea for many years. The company has also been evolving into an internet platform providing a variety of internet services, such as news, a dictionary, maps, digital comic content, social networking, e-commerce, videos, fintech services based on online payments, and Cloud services. Naver was also the incubator of Line Yahoo, the leading mobile messaging app in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, which merged with Z Holdings (Yahoo Japan), with Naver now owning 32.5% of the merged entity renamed LY. Naver is now launching AI products using its proprietary data.