August 25, 2025 • 11 mins
Webtoon Entertainment is a leading global entertainment company and home to some of the world's largest storytelling platforms. As the global leader and pioneer of the mobile webcomic format, Webtoon Entertainment has transformed comics and visual storytelling for fans and creators. The firm also saw shares soar last week after announcing a deal with Walt Disney to bring about 100 series to its English-language app, and forecasting revenue for the third quarter that beat the average analyst estimate.
David Lee, the CFO and COO of Webtoon, discusses company's banner deal and continued pushed into mainstream digital media. David speaks with Tim Stenovec and Norah Mulinda on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Shares of Webtoon Entertainment. Remember this, We talked about this
on the Close just last week. Searched eighty one percent
last Wednesday. It was its best day since going public
(00:24):
last year. You remember this. They announced a partnership with
Walt Disney. It's going to bring characters such as Marvel,
Spider Man and Luke Skywalker of Star Wars to its platform.
The announcement also came as Webtoon reported quarterly results that
beat analyst expectations that helped fuel the rally last week
as well. We got with us David Lee. He's CFO
and COO of the one point nine billion dollar market
(00:46):
cap company. It calls itself a quote global storytelling platform
that enables creators and users to discover, create, and share stories.
David joins us from our Los Angeles bureau. Also with
us is Nina Trentman. She's Bloomberg News Senior editor. She
writes the BLOOMBERGSFO Briefing newsletter. She joins us here in
the studio. Check out her newsletter at Bloomberg dot com
slash CFO Briefing David will be featured in an upcoming
(01:09):
edition of that. David, welcome. Good to talk to you again.
I think last time we spoke you were CFO and
Coo at Impossible Foods. It was a previous lifetime. You're
at webtoon now. I think though, at Webtune, a lot
of people maybe who don't have kids of a certain age,
maybe they're too young, maybe they're too old, might not
be familiar with the platform. What is it so?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Webtune is as you say, it's a global storytelling platform.
And while many of us may not have heard it ourselves,
I bet our gen Z kids and friends have. In fact,
the majority of our one hundred and fifty plus million
monthly active users are exactly in that demographic. They spend
thirty minutes a day plus enjoying news stories from this
(01:53):
network of twenty four million creators globally that get to
write great webcomic and web novel stories on our platform.
I bet you've seen a movie or two though, that
you didn't realize started as a web tune.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
David, thanks for joining us, just wondering actually in terms
of the spending on the platform. One of the things
that we've been wondering about at CFO briefing recently is this,
what is the consumer doing and how are consumers responding
to all the different news that we're hearing on tariffs,
on what's going on in DC. I'm wondering, are you
seeing any changes of spending amongst your consumers.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, web Tune's very fortunate. You know, our consumers love
a good story. They love a good story and good
times and bad times, and increasingly they love a good
story independent of the language or the country that the
story came out of. We have examples of nine hundred adaptations,
one hundred rich film, movie and TV series that came
from all over the world because in good times and
(02:54):
bad people want to tuck into a story from an
unexpected source. And our privilege is to allow these twenty
four million creators. By the way, most of them who
have full time jobs. They're kindergarten teachers, they're plumbers. They're
people who are hard at work who get a chance
to break through and maybe even have a great movie
like we saw with Sidelined the Quarterback and Me on Tuby.
(03:15):
So so far we've been immune from some of the
news that you carry every day because our product is
great storytelling and consumers seem to still love it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And it's good to hear. I'm just wondering. Tim just
mentioned the Disney partnership. I'm curious for you as a CFO,
how does it change the financial trajectory of the company.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, the Disney collaboration, I think is pivotal. What it
indicates to me is that we are not niche. We
are mainstream for our gen Z consumers today here in
the US, the largest market that we see ahead of us.
It also means that a wonderful company is comfortable allowing
us to take their iconic stories. You know, the Amazing
(03:57):
Spider Man's coming out soon, and it's coming out as
a webcomic in our platform. Disney recently said in an article,
they said, you know, we looked at a lot and
they're the leader, and we feel grateful to be able
to bring their stories to life. And frankly, we're going
to bring alternative endings, background characters to the forefront. We're
going to write original stories with Disney because our powerhouse
(04:19):
of creators can allow a story that may have been
written years ago to be really fresh for the gen
Z consumers on our platform.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
How important is it to really be working with such
an established company like Walt Disney and just getting that
visibility through this partnership.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I think it's critical because, frankly, the biggest challenge we
have is that while our gen Z consumers here in
the US know us, love us, and spend thirty to
sixty minutes every day on us, a lot of investors,
a lot of corporations, a lot of your audience has
never heard of webtom even though we went public a
little over a year ago. I think part of the
movement that you may have seen in the company stock
(04:57):
is simply awareness that Disney is recognizing that webtoon is
going mainstream here in the US, that we're a great
source of fresh content, but we're the powerful leader of
the category where we just released short form video on
Monday of this week. You know, these short five minute
videos crafted out of proven stories on our platform is
(05:19):
exactly what gen Z wants, and so for us, it's
really important to bring awareness to investors and companies about
what gen Z consumers here already know, which is that
we're a great source of storytelling.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Should investors expect more partnerships similar to the one that
was announced last week with Disney.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Well, I think if you look at what we've talked
about in the last couple of quarters, I mean just
the quarter released prior we talked about our partnership with IDW,
We've talked about bringing Sonic, The Hedgehog and Godzilla and
other great platforms to our content and our storytelling. We
also are constantly seeing things hit the main screens. You know,
(05:59):
just last week we saw a major movie release called
My Daughter Is a Zombie. It just got released in
the last couple of weeks here in the US, but
it's one of the number one best selling releases in
Cree already that came from us. So increasingly you're going
to see as partner but also create original content on
our platform and on screens coming to you, whether it's Amazon,
(06:22):
to be Netflix, or even a movie theater more and more.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
David, I'm wondering, how are you thinking about profitability on
the back of the partnership with Disney. We talked about
this before. I'm wondering, does that change how you thinking
about that?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, one of the great things about our collaboration with
Disney is it's notable what I did not release. I
did not release OWNERUS upfront financial terms. I didn't even
talk about it as being different than the great way
in which we partner with franchises previously. And we posted
in the quarter a positive nine point seven million j Justinivada,
which I think it shows that our cash balance that
(06:59):
was given to us US from the IPO on Nastac
little over a year ago is growing. So even as
we grow our webcomic APPEU here in the US and
in English speaking locales nineteen percent you're on year for
the last two quarters, we're still building cash. That doesn't
mean we hoard it. We love the ability to create
shareholder value, but we're very careful to return shareholder value
(07:22):
very prudently. We believe in self reliance. That's why we
went public and right now there is no need for
me to disclose any different set of financial conditions other
than excitement. Strategically for the Disney collaboration.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
We're speaking with David Lee, CFO and COO of the
one point nine billion dollar market cap webtun Also with
US is Nina Trattan and Bloomberg News senior editor. She
writes the Bloomberg CFO briefing newsletter.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah. Well, unfortunately running out of time, David, But maybe
one question in terms of the customer group that you
mostly tracked at webtoon, you mentioned gen Z's to us.
I'm wondering, how do you keep track of that specific
customer group.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, it's funny this generation of consumers, the younger generation
gen Z and jen Alpha, they want to discover on
their own content. So we're very data rich and we
want to make sure we have the best sources stories,
and we have one hundred and twenty thousand stories that
arrive every single day to our platform. But because we're
so data driven, we can tell we call her Mattie
our target consumer. We know what Maddie is reading thirty
(08:22):
minutes every day, we know what chapter of what story
she's reading, and so it's easier for us to use
our technology to ensure she finds her next story, which
is part of the reason why we've revamped our product
here in the US. Importantly, as Maddie grows older, we
know from a longer experience elsewhere that she'll like different genres.
And the great thing about webtoon is we can offer
(08:44):
every genre because it comes from twenty four million creators
that we've cultivated over the last over ten years. So
she Maddie will grow old with us even as she
changes her tastes. We love her to finish in complete
stories because we have so many more coming as an
ever great platform every day.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And she's not a zombie. I just want to make sure.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I would never characterize Maddie as a.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Zombokay, she said, my daughter talk about Mattie. I just
want to make sure we're.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, no, okay, zombie there, Okay, sorry to go ahead. Well, David,
I did want to ask you about how you all
are thinking about AI. Of course, we know this has
been a really big topic this year as people think
about how we're using AI spend for some of these
large companies. So how are you all integrating AI into
your platform?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know, it's interesting. Web Tunes started from a parent
called Neighbor, which is a tech powerhouse, and we use
our technology, including our AI which we have a lot
of actually to protect the human creator. We protect them
by fighting piracy arguably better than a lot of other
bigger consumer tech platforms. I know. We allow consumers to
find these one hundred and twenty thousand stories I mentioned
(09:49):
that come every day. We help them find the stories
they want using AI and technology. We may be the
best untold story about AI promoting human creativity, generating returns
for our human creators, protecting them in a way that
I don't think is oftentimes on your network or in
the press. And we're really excited to have a business model.
(10:11):
You know, we've shared two point eight billion dollars with
our creators from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three because
from the very beginning, our founder said, we will build
a global network of people who can fair share in
the success. Neither of us know how big is yet,
and that allows an amateur creator somewhere in the world
with the dream of being a storyteller to change their
(10:33):
lives and contribute to the platform that we've built. So
I feel really good about our you SURVEYI I'm held
accountable by my teenage daughters, who are also consumers, and
this is one case where I think tech is at
work for human good.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
David, good to see you, Thanks for joining us on
Bloomberg BusinessWeek Daily for the CFO Brief. And that's David Lee,
CFO and COO of webtoon. Also a big thank you
to Nina Trevman. She's bloomberg new senior editor. She writes
the Bloomberg c FO Briefing newsletter. You can sign up
for it at Bloomberg dot com slash CFO Dash Briefing
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Shares of Webtoon Entertainment. Remember this, We talked about this
on the Close just last week. Searched eighty one percent
last Wednesday. It was its best day since going public
(00:24):
last year. You remember this. They announced a partnership with
Walt Disney. It's going to bring characters such as Marvel,
Spider Man and Luke Skywalker of Star Wars to its platform.
The announcement also came as Webtoon reported quarterly results that
beat analyst expectations that helped fuel the rally last week
as well. We got with us David Lee. He's CFO
and COO of the one point nine billion dollar market
(00:46):
cap company. It calls itself a quote global storytelling platform
that enables creators and users to discover, create, and share stories.
David joins us from our Los Angeles bureau. Also with
us is Nina Trentman. She's Bloomberg News Senior editor. She
writes the BLOOMBERGSFO Briefing newsletter. She joins us here in
the studio. Check out her newsletter at Bloomberg dot com
slash CFO Briefing David will be featured in an upcoming
(01:09):
edition of that. David, welcome. Good to talk to you again.
I think last time we spoke you were CFO and
Coo at Impossible Foods. It was a previous lifetime. You're
at webtoon now. I think though, at Webtune, a lot
of people maybe who don't have kids of a certain age,
maybe they're too young, maybe they're too old, might not
be familiar with the platform. What is it so?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Webtune is as you say, it's a global storytelling platform.
And while many of us may not have heard it ourselves,
I bet our gen Z kids and friends have. In fact,
the majority of our one hundred and fifty plus million
monthly active users are exactly in that demographic. They spend
thirty minutes a day plus enjoying news stories from this
(01:53):
network of twenty four million creators globally that get to
write great webcomic and web novel stories on our platform.
I bet you've seen a movie or two though, that
you didn't realize started as a web tune.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
David, thanks for joining us, just wondering actually in terms
of the spending on the platform. One of the things
that we've been wondering about at CFO briefing recently is this,
what is the consumer doing and how are consumers responding
to all the different news that we're hearing on tariffs,
on what's going on in DC. I'm wondering, are you
seeing any changes of spending amongst your consumers.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, web Tune's very fortunate. You know, our consumers love
a good story. They love a good story and good
times and bad times, and increasingly they love a good
story independent of the language or the country that the
story came out of. We have examples of nine hundred adaptations,
one hundred rich film, movie and TV series that came
from all over the world because in good times and
(02:54):
bad people want to tuck into a story from an
unexpected source. And our privilege is to allow these twenty
four million creators. By the way, most of them who
have full time jobs. They're kindergarten teachers, they're plumbers. They're
people who are hard at work who get a chance
to break through and maybe even have a great movie
like we saw with Sidelined the Quarterback and Me on Tuby.
(03:15):
So so far we've been immune from some of the
news that you carry every day because our product is
great storytelling and consumers seem to still love it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And it's good to hear. I'm just wondering. Tim just
mentioned the Disney partnership. I'm curious for you as a CFO,
how does it change the financial trajectory of the company.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, the Disney collaboration, I think is pivotal. What it
indicates to me is that we are not niche. We
are mainstream for our gen Z consumers today here in
the US, the largest market that we see ahead of us.
It also means that a wonderful company is comfortable allowing
us to take their iconic stories. You know, the Amazing
(03:57):
Spider Man's coming out soon, and it's coming out as
a webcomic in our platform. Disney recently said in an article,
they said, you know, we looked at a lot and
they're the leader, and we feel grateful to be able
to bring their stories to life. And frankly, we're going
to bring alternative endings, background characters to the forefront. We're
going to write original stories with Disney because our powerhouse
(04:19):
of creators can allow a story that may have been
written years ago to be really fresh for the gen
Z consumers on our platform.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
How important is it to really be working with such
an established company like Walt Disney and just getting that
visibility through this partnership.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I think it's critical because, frankly, the biggest challenge we
have is that while our gen Z consumers here in
the US know us, love us, and spend thirty to
sixty minutes every day on us, a lot of investors,
a lot of corporations, a lot of your audience has
never heard of webtom even though we went public a
little over a year ago. I think part of the
movement that you may have seen in the company stock
(04:57):
is simply awareness that Disney is recognizing that webtoon is
going mainstream here in the US, that we're a great
source of fresh content, but we're the powerful leader of
the category where we just released short form video on
Monday of this week. You know, these short five minute
videos crafted out of proven stories on our platform is
(05:19):
exactly what gen Z wants, and so for us, it's
really important to bring awareness to investors and companies about
what gen Z consumers here already know, which is that
we're a great source of storytelling.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Should investors expect more partnerships similar to the one that
was announced last week with Disney.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Well, I think if you look at what we've talked
about in the last couple of quarters, I mean just
the quarter released prior we talked about our partnership with IDW,
We've talked about bringing Sonic, The Hedgehog and Godzilla and
other great platforms to our content and our storytelling. We
also are constantly seeing things hit the main screens. You know,
(05:59):
just last week we saw a major movie release called
My Daughter Is a Zombie. It just got released in
the last couple of weeks here in the US, but
it's one of the number one best selling releases in
Cree already that came from us. So increasingly you're going
to see as partner but also create original content on
our platform and on screens coming to you, whether it's Amazon,
(06:22):
to be Netflix, or even a movie theater more and more.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
David, I'm wondering, how are you thinking about profitability on
the back of the partnership with Disney. We talked about
this before. I'm wondering, does that change how you thinking
about that?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, one of the great things about our collaboration with
Disney is it's notable what I did not release. I
did not release OWNERUS upfront financial terms. I didn't even
talk about it as being different than the great way
in which we partner with franchises previously. And we posted
in the quarter a positive nine point seven million j Justinivada,
which I think it shows that our cash balance that
(06:59):
was given to us US from the IPO on Nastac
little over a year ago is growing. So even as
we grow our webcomic APPEU here in the US and
in English speaking locales nineteen percent you're on year for
the last two quarters, we're still building cash. That doesn't
mean we hoard it. We love the ability to create
shareholder value, but we're very careful to return shareholder value
(07:22):
very prudently. We believe in self reliance. That's why we
went public and right now there is no need for
me to disclose any different set of financial conditions other
than excitement. Strategically for the Disney collaboration.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
We're speaking with David Lee, CFO and COO of the
one point nine billion dollar market cap webtun Also with
US is Nina Trattan and Bloomberg News senior editor. She
writes the Bloomberg CFO briefing newsletter.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah. Well, unfortunately running out of time, David, But maybe
one question in terms of the customer group that you
mostly tracked at webtoon, you mentioned gen Z's to us.
I'm wondering, how do you keep track of that specific
customer group.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, it's funny this generation of consumers, the younger generation
gen Z and jen Alpha, they want to discover on
their own content. So we're very data rich and we
want to make sure we have the best sources stories,
and we have one hundred and twenty thousand stories that
arrive every single day to our platform. But because we're
so data driven, we can tell we call her Mattie
our target consumer. We know what Maddie is reading thirty
(08:22):
minutes every day, we know what chapter of what story
she's reading, and so it's easier for us to use
our technology to ensure she finds her next story, which
is part of the reason why we've revamped our product
here in the US. Importantly, as Maddie grows older, we
know from a longer experience elsewhere that she'll like different genres.
And the great thing about webtoon is we can offer
(08:44):
every genre because it comes from twenty four million creators
that we've cultivated over the last over ten years. So
she Maddie will grow old with us even as she
changes her tastes. We love her to finish in complete
stories because we have so many more coming as an
ever great platform every day.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And she's not a zombie. I just want to make sure.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I would never characterize Maddie as a.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Zombokay, she said, my daughter talk about Mattie. I just
want to make sure we're.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, no, okay, zombie there, Okay, sorry to go ahead. Well, David,
I did want to ask you about how you all
are thinking about AI. Of course, we know this has
been a really big topic this year as people think
about how we're using AI spend for some of these
large companies. So how are you all integrating AI into
your platform?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know, it's interesting. Web Tunes started from a parent
called Neighbor, which is a tech powerhouse, and we use
our technology, including our AI which we have a lot
of actually to protect the human creator. We protect them
by fighting piracy arguably better than a lot of other
bigger consumer tech platforms. I know. We allow consumers to
find these one hundred and twenty thousand stories I mentioned
(09:49):
that come every day. We help them find the stories
they want using AI and technology. We may be the
best untold story about AI promoting human creativity, generating returns
for our human creators, protecting them in a way that
I don't think is oftentimes on your network or in
the press. And we're really excited to have a business model.
(10:11):
You know, we've shared two point eight billion dollars with
our creators from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three because
from the very beginning, our founder said, we will build
a global network of people who can fair share in
the success. Neither of us know how big is yet,
and that allows an amateur creator somewhere in the world
with the dream of being a storyteller to change their
(10:33):
lives and contribute to the platform that we've built. So
I feel really good about our you SURVEYI I'm held
accountable by my teenage daughters, who are also consumers, and
this is one case where I think tech is at
work for human good.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
David, good to see you, Thanks for joining us on
Bloomberg BusinessWeek Daily for the CFO Brief. And that's David Lee,
CFO and COO of webtoon. Also a big thank you
to Nina Trevman. She's bloomberg new senior editor. She writes
the Bloomberg c FO Briefing newsletter. You can sign up
for it at Bloomberg dot com slash CFO Dash Briefing
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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