Webtoon Leisure, which describes itself because the world’s largest net comedian platform, has set its market worth at $2.67bn (£2.11bn) forward of its US itemizing.
Its shares are as a consequence of begin buying and selling on the Nasdaq inventory alternate on 27 June at $21 every, the highest finish of their marketed vary.
The Los Angeles-based firm is owned by South Korean expertise big Naver, which has been boosted by the rising on-line recognition of Korean and Japanese comics.
Webtoon says it has 170 million month-to-month energetic customers in additional than 150 nations all over the world.
The corporate is aiming to promote 15 million shares and lift $315m within the preliminary public providing (IPO).
The world’s largest fund supervisor BlackRock has expressed curiosity in shopping for as much as $50m of shares.
Webtoon Leisure additionally owns the Japanese net comedian and manga app Line Manga, the online novel platform Wattpad and the Korean net comedian providing Naver Webtoon.
It presents 1000’s of titles protecting totally different genres – together with motion, romance, horror and science fiction.
The webtoon business, which focuses on online-only comics optimised for studying on cell, first emerged in South Korea 20 years in the past.
Their recognition exploded globally turning them into a serious South Korean cultural phenomenon alongside Okay-pop and Korean dramas.
Webtoons are low-cost to provide – a single artist can create one utilizing a pill – which may make well-liked comics very worthwhile.
The webtoon business made $4.7bn 2021 and is projected to develop to $60.1bn by 2030, in line with Spherical Insights & Consulting.
