Webtoon Entertainment . Common Stock Stock Earnings Reports

WEBTOON reported Q1 2026 revenue of $320.9M (down 1.5% reported; +0.2% constant currency) with gross margin expanding 390 bps to 25.9% and adjusted EBITDA rising 132% to $9.5M. Net loss narrowed to $8.8M and adjusted EPS was $0.07. Management highlighted investments to strengthen the creator ecosystem (notably a major CANVAS upgrade with unified international distribution and an opt-in AI translation feature), continued monetization progress (paid content and advertising growth, MPU +2.2%), and strong creator payouts (approximately $2.7B paid to creators from 2021–2025). Operational notes: global MAU declined ~5.9% after excluding automated/fraudulent accounts from MAU; app MAU fell but English platform app MAU grew +3.1%. Regional results: Korea showed paid-content strength (Korea paid MPU +8.5%), Japan is recovering after infrastructure work (ARPU up, MAU/MPU pressured), and Rest of World delivered low-double-digit improvements in ARPU and MPU. Strategic updates include elevation of Yongsoo Kim to President, on-track Disney collaboration with multiple recent title launches and a planned consumer app launch in 2026, and a stated ambition to return to double-digit revenue growth by Q4 2026. Q2 guidance: revenue $332M–$342M (+1.7% to +4.6% constant currency) and adjusted EBITDA $0M–$5M. Balance sheet: cash of $595M plus short-term deposits. Management plans to continue investing in creators, content and product (including video, community features, AI personalization) while pursuing margin improvement via mix shift toward higher-margin geographies and advertising.