NAVER Corporation

Internet SearchFounded 1999- HQ today: Seongnam, South Korea

Acquisitions

NAVER Acquisitions

Major Deals Covered

$1.8B

Disclosed Deal Value

What are NAVER's biggest acquisitions?

NAVER's largest disclosed acquisition here is Poshmark for $1.2B in 2023. This page covers 3 major deals from 2017 to 2023, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.

Major deals covered: 3
Largest deal: Poshmark ($1.2B)
First deal: 2017
Most recent: 2023

Company	Year	Price	Purpose
Xerox Research Center Europe	2017	Undisclosed	NAVER acquired Xerox Research Center Europe in 2017.
Wattpad	2021	$600.0M	Naver announced in January 2021 that it would acquire Canadian storytelling platform Wattpad for about $600 million, combining Wattpad's large North American user-generated fiction community with Naver's existing Webtoon digital-comics business.
Poshmark	2023	$1.2B	Naver agreed in October 2022 to acquire US social-commerce marketplace Poshmark for $17.90 per share in cash, an enterprise value of about $1.2 billion, completing the deal on January 5, 2023, to gain a foothold in the American secondhand and social-commerce apparel market.

What companies has NAVER bought?: Major acquisitions by NAVER documented here include Poshmark (2023), Wattpad (2021) and Xerox Research Center Europe (2017).
What is NAVER's most recent acquisition?: The most recent NAVER acquisition documented here is Poshmark, in 2023, for $1.2B.

Poshmark

2023

$1.2B

Why

Naver agreed in October 2022 to acquire US social-commerce marketplace Poshmark for $17.90 per share in cash, an enterprise value of about $1.2 billion, completing the deal on January 5, 2023, to gain a foothold in the American secondhand and social-commerce apparel market.

Impact

Poshmark gave Naver a large existing US consumer base and social-shopping technology, extending Naver's commerce ambitions beyond its home South Korean market where growth had begun to mature. Both deals reflect Naver's strategy of acquiring established Western consumer platforms rather than attempting to build competing products from scratch, an approach shaped by the difficulty Korean internet companies have historically faced building organic brand recognition in the US market.

Outcome

The acquisition became Naver's primary vehicle for testing its AI-driven search and product-discovery technology against an US consumer audience, an important market Naver had struggled to enter organically given the dominance of Amazon and other established US e-commerce platforms.

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Wattpad

2021

$600M

Why

Naver announced in January 2021 that it would acquire Canadian storytelling platform Wattpad for about $600 million, combining Wattpad's large North American user-generated fiction community with Naver's existing Webtoon digital-comics business.

Impact

The deal gave Naver a substantial library of user-generated stories and a built-in pipeline for adapting popular Wattpad stories into Webtoon comics and, from there, into film and television projects licensed to studios and streaming services. Both deals reflect Naver's strategy of acquiring established Western consumer platforms rather than attempting to build competing products from scratch, an approach shaped by the difficulty Korean internet companies have historically faced building organic brand recognition in the US market.

Outcome

Wattpad's story catalog has since fed into Naver's broader intellectual-property licensing strategy, supplying source material that Naver Webtoon has adapted for international content partners.

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Xerox Research Center Europe

2017

Why

NAVER acquired Xerox Research Center Europe in 2017.

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NAVER Corporation's Growth & Acquisition Strategy

NAVER's growth strategy is to put AI inside services Koreans already use, deepen commerce through Naver Plus Store and membership, and expand fintech. In November 2025 Naver Financial agreed a share swap to make Dunamu, operator of the Upbit crypto exchange, its wholly owned subsidiary, valuing Dunamu at about $10.7 billion (KRW 15.1 trillion); the closing has been pushed back several times pending approval. In July 2026 Nvidia agreed to invest about $1.05 billion (KRW 1.48 trillion) for a 4.5% stake, tied to plans for a Korean AI factory. Abroad, NAVER relies on WEBTOON Entertainment (Nasdaq: WBTN), Poshmark and Wallapop rather than exporting the core portal.

How NAVER Corporation Makes Money

NAVER earns money in five reported sectors. Search Platform (~$2.96 billion (KRW 4.17 trillion) in 2025) sells search and display advertising on the Naver portal. Commerce (~$2.62 billion (KRW 3.69 trillion)) takes fees, ads and membership revenue from Smart Store sellers, brand stores and C2C platforms such as Poshmark and Kream. Fintech (~$1.2 billion (KRW 1.69 trillion)) earns payment fees from Naver Pay. Content (~$1.35 billion (KRW 1.90 trillion)) is mainly WEBTOON Entertainment paid content, ads and IP licensing. Enterprise (~$417 million (KRW 587.8 billion)) sells NAVER Cloud, GPU capacity, HyperCLOVA X and workplace software to companies and public agencies.

NAVER Acquisitions FAQ

What was NAVER's acquisition of Poshmark and why was it strategically significant?

In January 2023, NAVER completed the $1.2 billion all-cash acquisition of Silicon Valley-based social fashion marketplace Poshmark, expanding NAVER's e-commerce footprint to North America and combining social shopping with NAVER's AI search and live-streaming technology.

How did NAVER acquire global storytelling platform Wattpad in 2021?

In May 2021, NAVER acquired Canadian storytelling platform Wattpad for approximately $600 million in cash and stock, uniting Wattpad's community of 90 million readers with NAVER's WEBTOON studio to create the world's largest digital comic and novel storytelling leader.

What was NAVER's acquisition of Spanish secondhand marketplace Wallapop?

In 2021 and 2023, NAVER invested over $210 million (€186 million) to become the largest shareholder (holding approximately 30%) in Wallapop, Spain's leading peer-to-peer circular economy platform, establishing a foothold in European recommerce.

How did NAVER acquire Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE) to create NAVER LABS Europe?

In 2017, NAVER acquired the prestigious Xerox Research Centre Europe in Grenoble, France, rebranding it as NAVER LABS Europe. The lab serves as NAVER's primary European hub for computer vision, machine learning, and robotics research.

What was the strategic merger that created LY Corporation (Line Yahoo)?

In March 2021, NAVER and SoftBank completed the business integration of LINE Corporation and Yahoo Japan under Z Holdings (later rebranded as LY Corporation), creating a Japanese internet giant serving over 100 million combined users.

How did NAVER acquire Munpia to expand its digital web novel ecosystem?

In 2021, NAVER acquired a controlling stake in Munpia, one of South Korea's largest web novel platforms, securing premier fantasy and martial arts IP to adapt into high-grossing webtoons and television series.

What was NAVER's acquisition of visual search startup 1301 and its AI imaging investments?

NAVER acquired specialized computer vision and fashion AI startups to power 'Smart Lens', its visual search feature that allows users to photograph clothing, products, or flowers to instantly identify brands and purchase links.

How does NAVER D2 Startup Factory (D2SF) drive strategic startup acquisitions?

NAVER operates D2SF as an in-house accelerator that has invested in and acquired over 100 deep-tech startups in AI, spatial computing, robotics, healthcare, and semiconductor hardware, integrating their technology into NAVER's core platforms.

Why did Naver acquire Canadian storytelling platform Wattpad in 2021?

In May 2021, Naver acquired global storytelling platform Wattpad for $600 million in cash and stock. Combining Wattpad's 90 million monthly readers and user-written web novels with Naver Webtoon created the world's largest digital storytelling and intellectual property ecosystem, feeding stories directly into television and film production.

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