Webtoon Plans Public Offering

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Miracle Mile-based Webtoon Entertainment Inc. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its common stock.

Webtoon applied on May 31 to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol WBTN. The stock price has not yet been determined.

“We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures,” the company wrote in its filing with the SEC.

Webtoon is a storytelling platform that enables content creators and users to discover, create and share stories.

Its brands include Webtoon, a webcomic platform, available in nine languages; Naver Webtoon, the largest webcomic platform in Korea; StudioN, its media adaptation and production subsidiary based in Korea; and Wattpad, a webnovel and storytelling community, among others.

Webtoon founder and Chief Executive Junkoo Kim

Webtoon has over 24 million creators and 169 million monthly active users from more than 150 countries around the world.

Over the past decade, it has adapted over 900 titles, including over 100 streaming series and films, more than 200 books, over 70 games and over 11 million consumer product units as of March 31, according to the Webtoon filing.

In a letter that was included with the filing, Webtoon founder and Chief Executive Junkoo Kim said that the reason he started the company was to tell stories, empower creators and build community.

“That is what has driven me and the entire organization for the last two decades,” Kim said in the letter. “And that will continue to be our strategy going forward as a public company.”

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, both in New York, are acting as lead bookrunning managers for the proposed offering.

Webtoon is owned by Naver Corp., the largest internet company in South Korea.

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