Skip to main content
WBTN $8.29 -2.64%
WBTN logo

WBTN · WEBTOON Entertainment Inc.

Track WBTN — free
$8.29 -0.23 (-2.64%) At close · Aug 14
Market Cap
$1.12B
Shares
135.71M
All earnings calls

Earnings call · FY2026 Q1

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

Concluded May 11, 2026 Audio replay
May 11, 2026 41:35 31 turns
Period
FY2026 Q1
Runtime
41:35
Sources
4 artifacts

Executive readout · one minute

What matters this quarter

WEBTOON reported Q1 2026 revenue of $320.9 million, down 1.5% year-over-year but up 0.2% on a constant-currency basis and within guidance, while adjusted EBITDA of $9.5 million beat the high end of guidance with growth of 132% year-over-year and net loss narrowed to $8.8 million.

Korea and Japan core geographies 74 Canvas platform unification and international expansion 26 Financial results and profitability improvement 20 Globalization, leadership, and AI integration 10 Creator monetization and rev-share 4 Disney collaboration and IP adaptations 4

Management tone

Positive

Net tone +18 · low hedging

Grounding quotes
  • “we believe we are off to a strong start this year and look forward to driving further innovation throughout the rest of this year”
  • “We narrowed our net loss to 8.8 million dollars in the quarter compared to a loss of 22 million dollars in the prior year, driven primarily by improved gross profit.”
  • “adjusted EBITDA growth of 132% in the quarter”
  • “We believe we can continue to drive MPU growth as we refine our AI-driven personalized recommendation model.”

Forward guidance

2 guided metrics

Management's latest ranges and targets are included below.

Research coverage

4 live sources

Switch sources without leaving this page or losing your listening position.

Revenue $320.87M -1.5% YoY
Diluted EPS -$0.07
Net income -$9.46M

Research materials

Open the source you need; every reader stays inside this workspace.

Key takeaways

What improved, and what deserves a closer read.

Constructive signals

  • Adjusted EBITDA of $9.5 million, well above the high end of guidance and up 132% year-over-year from $4.1 million
  • Gross margin expanded 390 basis points to 25.9%
  • Net loss narrowed to $8.8 million from $22.0 million in the prior year
  • Adjusted EPS of $0.07 versus $0.03 in the prior year
  • MPU grew 2.2% and Korea paying ratio rose 189 basis points to 16.1%, with Korea revenue up 3.2% constant currency
  • Cash and cash equivalents of approximately $594.9 million with no debt

Risks & pressure points

  • Total revenue declined 1.5% year-over-year to $320.9 million
  • Global MAU declined 5.9%, with app MAU down 6.7% and webcomic app MAU down 3.0%
  • IP adaptations revenue declined 22.2% year-over-year on a constant currency basis
  • Q2 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $0.0-$5.0 million implies potential year-over-year decline versus prior-period results
  • Korea advertising declined (single-digit) and Japan revenue declined 3.4% on a constant currency basis

Key moments

Jump directly to management's words in the synchronized transcript.

“We reported adjusted EBITDA of 9.5 million dollars, well above the high end of guidance as we exercised cost discipline, leveraging our G&A and marketing expenses to deliver adjusted EBITDA growth of 132% in the quarter.” Speaker 3, CFO

Forward guidance

From the 8-K filed May 11, 2026.

Metric Guided
Adjusted EBITDA
second quarter 2026
$0 – $5M
Adjusted EBITDA Margin
second quarter 2026
0% – 1.5%

Quarter detail

How the reported period landed and where the business moved.

Revenue · products & services

Paid Content$261.44M +0.5% YoY
Advertising$39.68M -0.5% YoY
IP Adaptations$19.75M -22.8% YoY
Full-screen source Call document