WEBTOON Entertainment Widens Q2 Operating Loss to US$15.6 Million
The headline loss widened, but currency-adjusted revenue grew 5.2%, and the quarter's real story is the split between Korea's 16% revenue jump and a 15.6% decline in Japan, WEBTOON's largest market.
Reporting from 1 source: Anime News Network.
WEBTOON Entertainment reported an operating loss of US$15.6 million for the second quarter of 2026, widening from US$8.8 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 2.8% to US$338.5 million, a decline the company blamed on the weak Korean won and Japanese yen. Currency-adjusted revenue would have grown 5.2%, with Korea up 16% and Japan down 15.6%.
WEBTOON disclosed the results on August 10. Korea was the quarter's standout, revenue up 16% year-over-year to roughly US$93.5 million, helped by the live-action adaptation of The Legend of Kitchen Soldier and the third season of Return of the Blossoming Blade. Korean paying users rose 10.4% to 3.8 million.
Japan, the company's largest market by revenue, fell 15.6% year-over-year, dragging on paid content even as other regions grew. Monthly active users reached 156.9 million, up 0.5%, and monthly paying users rose 1.8% to 7.5 million.
CEO Junkoo Kim pointed to two priorities: leaning into AI features, including an auto-translation tool for amateur creators and an AI-driven interactive story chat service called byUs, and shifting from licensing out IP toward owning more of it directly. WEBTOON forecast third-quarter currency-adjusted revenue of US$358-368 million.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.