Naver Webtoon to go public in U.S. as early as June: Report

The company is aiming to raise $500 million with the IPO.

Naver Webtoon's CEO Kim Jun-koo speaks at a press conference in its office in Pangyo, Gyeonggi. [NAVER WEBTOON]

Naver Webtoon is planning to go public in the United States as early as in June, according to a Bloomberg report.

The report said the webtoon operator has enlisted Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to work on the initial public offering (IPO).

The company hopes to raise as much as $500 million at a valuation of up to $4 billion.

"It could invite more underwriters apart from the two investment banks," the report said.

The report came as Naver Webtoon CEO Kim Jun-koo initially said he eyes 2025 for the IPO.

The company currently has 85.6 million monthly active users globally. The number of users in North America amounted to 12.5 million as of the end of the second quarter of 2022.

In May 2020, Naver Webtoon moved its headquarters to Los Angeles and formed its U.S.-based subsidiary, Webtoon Entertainment, which manages its overall webtoon operations and content platform business.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]