May 01, 2015 10:55
Internet portal Naver achieved sound first-quarter results this year, with sales of W740.6 billion and operating profit of W192 billion (US$1=W1,075).
The earnings growth was led by the success of Line, the mobile messenger run by Naver, as well as increasing mobile advertising revenues.
Naver said Thursday that sales in the January-March period rose 18.3 percent and operating profit three percent on-year.
The biggest driver was online advertising revenues, which totaled W529.9 billion or 72 percent of total sales. Mobile ads alone now account for a record 30 percent of Naver’s ad income.
Next were content revenues, which amounted to W200 billion, 88 percent of which was related to item sales for characters appearing in Line's mobile games.
Line's first-quarter sales totaled W254 billion, up eight percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.
Naver’s mobile messenger service is very popular in Japan and drawing more users Indonesia, the Middle East and Thailand.
Powered by Line, Naver's overseas business earned W247.3 billion in the first quarter and accounted for 33 percent of total sales, compared to 28 percent in the same quarter of last year.
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