Naver posted consolidated revenue of 3.4724 trillion won in the third quarter of this year. That is up 10.7% from a year earlier and marks record quarterly revenue for the seventh straight quarter. Naver disclosed the results on the 12th.
Profitability slipped. Operating profit was 451.3 billion won, down 20.9% from a year earlier, reflecting growing investment to build artificial intelligence (AI) competitiveness in areas such as infrastructure, content and offline data.
Revenue by segment was 1.9484 trillion won for Naver Platform, 487.7 billion won for Financial Platform and 1.0364 trillion won for Global Challenge.
Naver Platform revenue rose 7.3% from the same quarter last year. Although the Chuseok holiday fell in the period, advertising revenue grew as attempts to monetize AI expanded. Purchases also increased, centered on the Naver Plus Store app and membership. Service revenue among them rose 13.1%. As store and membership users grew and N Delivery was strengthened, the commerce ecosystem continued to expand.
Having entered a head-on contest with Coupang, Naver will set up a logistics subsidiary within the year. The move is aimed at accelerating the growth of its commerce business. On the day's conference call, CEO Choi Su-yeon said, "To raise our delivery competitiveness a notch further, we will establish a specialized logistics subsidiary and gradually strengthen our delivery infrastructure, centered on leased logistics centers."
Choi estimated that close to 1 trillion won would need to be poured into this effort through 2030. She explained, however, that it will be designed with an appropriate financing method and revenue structure so that the impact on cash flow and profit and loss is limited.
Financial Platform revenue rose 14.1%. Naver Pay (Npay) payment volume in the third quarter was 26.2 trillion won, up 15.6%. External payment volume grew 21.8%, lifting total payment volume. Naver Financial's goal is to take the No. 1 position in Korea in the offline integrated terminal segment, measured by the number of terminals actually in operation, within the first half of next year.
Global Challenge revenue rose 15.9%. The effect of incorporating Wallapop was reflected, and C2C (consumer-to-consumer) revenue grew as transactions at Poshmark and Soda did well. Revenue from corporate customers, including the Saudi digital twin project, also continued to rise.
Naver is preparing an outdoor robot delivery service in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The target launch date is the first half of next year. Choi said, "We plan to unveil NURI, the first outdoor delivery robot developed by Naver Labs, and combine it with the digital twin data and robot technology we have built in Saudi Arabia to deliver a delivery service tailored to local residential complexes."
Revenue from the AI factory business, in partnership with Brookfield and Nvidia, will start to be reflected in earnest from the first half of next year. Choi said, "Regarding the AI factory business, we have secured early customers by signing a computing service supply contract worth about 2 trillion won, so AI factory revenue will also be generated in sequence." The company also presented a plan to secure stability and profitability together by signing medium- to long-term contracts with large customers while expanding its customer base to global AI companies with large growth potential.
Naver is also seeking new revenue sources through more advanced AI services. Following AI Briefing and AI Tab, it will launch an AI agent app within the year. The policy is to create services that go beyond recommendations and information to actual purchases and visits. Choi stressed, "A personal AI agent offers a new kind of usability that goes beyond users searching for the information they need themselves, by taking care of necessary tasks in advance or performing troublesome tasks on their behalf." She cited the execution capability to connect AI recommendations to users' actions and transactions quickly and safely as the differentiator.
Variables surrounding Nvidia are also being mentioned. Reports that CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an extramarital affair and that the board has begun preparing to dismiss him have raised concerns that it could affect Naver's AI factory business. Nvidia, which completed its payment of 1.3412 trillion won on the 6th, took a 4.13% stake in Naver and became its third-largest shareholder.
Industry observers believe the impact will be limited because the business is being pursued under a formal contract and through set procedures. Naver explained that its AI factory combines Nvidia's standard architecture with Naver Cloud's large-scale GPU clusters and its experience operating AI infrastructure for major domestic corporate and public-sector customers. It also said it would generate meaningful revenue and profit on the strength of its pre-secured next-generation GPU supply capacity.