Naver Corporation

1999–2000: Establishment and launch of services

Naver Corporation was founded by Lee Hae-jin in 1999.[4] Naver Corporation was first established in June 1999 under the name of Naver Comm. Along with its search engine Naver, the company also launched a service for children named Junior Naver. In July 2000, Naver merged with Hangame Communications Inc. and several other companies including Oneque and Search Solutions.[4]

In August 2000, Naver began its 'comprehensive search' service, which allows users to get a variety of results from a search query on a single page, organized by type (for example blogs, webpages, images, cafes, etc.).[4]

2001–2012: Renaming and worldwide expansion

In 2001, NAVER Comm was renamed NHN Corporation (Next Human Network), although both divisions—Naver and Hangame—continued to operate under their original brand names. NHN also stood for (NAVER, Hangame, Network).

In 2002, NHN was registered on the KOSDAQ stock exchange, and launched the online Q&A service Naver Knowledge iN. In 2003, NHN merged all Japanese subsidiaries into NHN Japan. In 2005, Naver began the online donation service: Happy Bean. It also established its US branch under the name NHN USA. In 2007, it launched Naver Japan in order to pursue its search engine business in Japan. Meanwhile, NHN USA officially opened its American game service, ijji. However, it later sold away its 100% stake to Aeria Games.[5]

In 2008, NHN appeared on the Forbes Global 2000 list for the first time. That same year, NHN had the largest market capitalization among KOSDAQ-listed companies before being transferred to the KOSPI market in November. In 2009, Kim Sang-Hun of NHN and Jing-Wan Kim of Samsung were the only South Korean CEOs to appear on Forbes' Asia's Fab 50 list.

In 2010, the company moved into its new headquarters now known as the

2013–2015: Splitting from NHN

In 2013, NHN launched its subsidiary companies Camp Mobile and Line Plus. NHN was split into Naver Corporation and NHN Entertainment, the latter being formerly known as Hangame. Similarly, NHN Japan separated into Line Corporation (web services) and Hangame Japan (game services). In June, Naver became the first web company in Korea to build and operate its own data center, Data Center GAK, which was built in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.[7]

In 2015, Naver launched Works Mobile for B2B collaboration businesses and merged with Entry Education Labs, which is a software education platform company.

2016–2020: Listing and further expansion

Naver's annual revenue for 2016 was 4.02 trillion won.[8] In 2016, Line Corporation was double listed on both the NYSE and the TSE. In August 2016, Naver spun off its app SNOW into a separate subsidiary company, Snow Corp.[9][10] Naver also began Project Flower, a project which aims to support small businesses and creators by cooperating with them on various projects. In September 2016, Naver and its affiliate Line announced that they would invest a combined 100 million euros (US$112 million) into K-Fund 1. K-Fund 1 is a European startup accelerator fund operated by Korelya Capital, which is an investment firm established by Fleur Pellerin, the Korean-born former French minister overseeing small and medium enterprises in the digital economy.[11]

In 2017, Naver established its subsidiary companies Snow, Naver Labs, and Naver Webtoon. Naver opened Space Green, which is a startup space inside

2021–present: Global expansion

In mid-January 2021, Naver announced the acquisition of Wattpad for US$600 million.[15]

In March 2021 Line Corporation merged with Yahoo Japan, which has been operated by Z Holdings, a SoftBank Group subsidiary.[16] Under the new structure, Naver and SoftBank Corp., which is the wireless carrier unit of SoftBank Group, each hold 50 percent stakes in a new company named A Holdings Corp., which holds a majority stake in Z Holdings, which will operate Line and Yahoo Japan.[16][17][18]

Search engine

Naver was the first Korean web provider to develop its own search engine. It was also the first operator to introduce the comprehensive search service (which refers to optimized search results from various categories such as news, maps, images and so on, presented on a single page). The search engine has since grown to offer a variety of related services including e-mail, mapping, e-commerce, social media, wireless payments, and online streaming.

CAMP Mobile

CAMP Mobile was established in March 2013 and focuses on developing mobile services. While it originally began as a small venture project, Camp Mobile launched over 10 different apps in areas such as utilities, social networking, and e-commerce within four months of its establishment.

In 2012, the company launched its first app, Band, a social network application.

In 2015, the company also presented Watchmaster, an app that allows users to select their own smart watch home screen.

In November 2017, it was announced that Camp Mobile would be merged back into Naver Corporation in February 2018.[42]

SNOW

SNOW Corporation develops a photo and video application called SNOW, which is considered somewhat similar to Snapchat, since both apps suggest video as an alternative communication tool rather than text. SNOW first began in September 2015 as a guerrilla project in CAMP Mobile, but has spun off into its own company as of 2016 in order to give more focus to the global visual communication market.[43]

Deview

Deview is a conference hosted by Naver since 2008, where developers from various countries share their technical knowledge and experience. Through several dozens of sessions, participants share in-depth knowledge in fields such as web, mobile, AI, big data, deep learning, robotics, and more. In 2017, 2,500 tickets went out in 15 seconds.[52]

Cultural Foundation

Naver Cultural Foundation, officially established in 2009. In 2010, the Naver Cultural Foundation launched a support program for indie musicians. In November of the same year, the foundation opened an online platform called 'Onstage' to introduce new up-and-coming indie bands.[53]

Connect Foundation

Connect Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization established by Naver in 2011. It promotes the dissemination of IT education as well as basic science and engineering education projects.

Employees and culture

As of 2021, Naver had 4,595 employees, excluding subsidiaries. In 2014, Naver was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellent Enterprise in equal employment division by the ministry of Labor.

Green Factory

Naver's headquarters, located in Bundang-gu Seongnam-si of South Korea, is referred to as the Green Factory.

The construction of the Green Factory was completed in March 2010 with 27 floors above ground and 7 floors underground.

The steel and glass façade houses adjustable vertical louvers which restrict or allow sunlight to enter the building. The louvers are automatically closed and opened at times of sunrise and sunset, allowing the building to save energy. On special occasions, the façade displays different images such as the company's logo. Internal light is selectively blocked by a nocturnal automated louver system.[60]

The building is certified as 'Platinum' under the global green building design rating system LEED.[61]