KB News Desk
Deal lands alongside mixed second-quarter results, as the platform bets on games and anime to reignite growth
Webtoon Entertainment is acquiring a 60 percent stake in Korean game developer RI Games Holdings for about $100 million, the company said Tuesday, deepening its push into games and animation as core growth shows signs of slowing.
RI Games, founded in 2022 by Kevin Tail Han, operates GrayGames and Offbeat, the two studios that will handle the development of new titles. Under the deal, the companies plan to roll out a slate of games over the next four years, drawing on popular series such as “Overgeared,” “Doom Breaker” and “Omniscient Reader.”
The acquisition will close in two installments, and the agreement carries performance-based terms for the remaining 40 percent. Han can sell his remaining shares to Webtoon in cash and stock if certain milestones are met, while Webtoon can sell back part of its stake if not.
The move marks a shift for the Los Angeles-based, Nasdaq-listed company, which has in the past licensed its comics out to studios and streamers rather than owning the adaptations outright. That approach limited how much of the upside flowed back to the company when its titles broke through globally, executives said.
“IP adaptations are a critical element of our flywheel, creating greater franchise value and bringing more fans back to our global platform,” president Yongsoo Kim said on the company’s earnings call Monday.
Alongside the RI Games deal, the company said it formed a $100 million fund with parent Naver in July to invest directly in adaptations of its titles.
Webtoon reported mixed results in the second quarter: According to its earnings report, revenue slipped 2.8 percent from a year earlier to $338.5 million, though the company said sales would have grown 5.2 percent excluding currency effects.
Adjusted earnings came in at 4 cents a share, beating Wall Street forecasts for a slight loss, while net loss widened to $14.6 million from $3.9 million a year earlier on higher taxes and marketing spending.
The regional picture was similarly uneven. Korea, the company’s home market, grew 20 percent on a constant-currency basis, while Japan, its second-largest market, declined 6.7 percent. Monthly active users held roughly flat at 156 million worldwide.
Investors initially welcomed the numbers, sending shares up 5.8 percent to $9.45 in regular trading. The stock gave back the gains after hours, falling 6.2 percent to $8.86 as attention turned to the revenue decline and a cautious outlook.
