WEBTOON Entertainment, a leading global online cartoon platform carved-out of South Korea's NAVER, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. However, this is likely a placeholder for a deal we estimate could raise up to $500 million.
Originally founded as a unit of NAVER and carved out in 2017, WEBTOON is a global storytelling platform focused on web comics and web novels. The company believes it has pioneered a new form of digital storytelling, allowing for long-form stories to be told through serialized releases of bite-sized episodes available online. WEBTOON's community connects 24 million creators with approximately 170 million monthly active users in over 150 countries around the world.
The Los Angeles, CA-based company was founded in 2005 and booked $1.3 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, 2024. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol WBTN. WEBTOON Entertainment filed confidentially on December 15, 2023. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore ISI, Deutsche Bank, UBS Investment Bank, and HSBC are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.
