Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: 2024, Webtoon

The World's Biggest Publisher Of Comics Makes A Loss Of $153 Million

Webtoon, the world's biggest publisher of comics made a loss of $153 million last year., against revenue of $1.35 billion

Published Thu, 06 Mar 2025 11:57:07 -0600

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

Webtoon reports a $153M loss despite $1.35B revenue rise
Increases in marketing and IPO costs contributed to losses
Japan surpasses South Korea as Webtoon's top revenue market
Webtoon expects growth with strategic expansions and monetization

The Korean-based Webtoon Entertainment is the world's biggest comic book publisher. It was founded in 2005 by its CEO, Junkoo Kim, while working for South Korean technology giant Naver Corporation, who still owns over 60% of the company. Webtoon Entertainment allows comic book creators to publish their work in a vertical scrolling digital reading platform. A number of titles have seen adaptations for the screen courtesy of Netflix, Prime Video, and Crunchyroll. Popular titles include The Mafia Nanny, Love 4 A Walk, Star Catcher, Childhood Friend Complex, The Remarried Empress, Down To Earth and Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story.

But Webtoon Entertainment has just reported big losses in an investor call for Q4 and the full year, even as it achieved higher sales, with David Lee, Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of Webtoon Entertainment, attributing the losses to increased IPO-related expenses, higher marketing costs, and goodwill impairment in the web novel sector, as well as and currency fluctuations driving the loss, as currencies in Asia dropped against a burgeoning dollar in 2024. Foreign currency adjustments made up a $62 million loss in Q4, and $72 million for the year, against only $18 million loss for the whole of 2023. And that South Korea's political instability had a temporary impact on user engagement. America, take note. Asset writedowns made up $70 million of the losses, but that wasn't far off what they went through in 2023 with $63 million written down.

And even with all those losses, Webtoon's sales were up 5.6% for Q4 and up 5.1 % for the full year to $1.35 billion. So, you know, there's a lot of money coming in, even if a lot of it is still going out. And $648.2 million of that revenue came from Japan, outstripping South Korea for the first time, with almost 22 million readers from Japan alone, a 3.5% increase from the previous year. Indeed, outside of gaming, Webtoon was the biggest revenue raiser in Japan for the year.

Webtoon also states that paid content revenue grew by 6.7%, while advertising revenue, particularly in South Korea and Japan, surged by 22.1% overall. And they expect to continue revenue growth, forecasting total revenue between $318 million and $328 million. Webstoon states that they remain optimistic about future growth, leveraging expansion in Japan and international markets, enhanced monetization strategies, and further IP development.

Webtoon Launches IPO, Declares It Is Worth $2.67 Billion Dollars — Webtoon logo

Notably, twenty years after being founded, they are still making an enormous loss, even as readership shifts digitally and towards manga, worldwide. But much of this is seen as investment for the future, as Webtoon continuing to dominate worldwide comic book readers.

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