Webtoon Entertainment said on March 3 local time that it posted revenue growth for a third consecutive year and recorded positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for a third straight year, as it announced fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results.

Full-year revenue in 2025 rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier to $1.38271 billion, or about 1.96 trillion won, based on an average annual exchange rate of 1,420.94 won. On a constant-currency basis that excludes the impact of exchange-rate swings and deconsolidated businesses, revenue grew 3.9 percent. On that basis, it achieved broad-based growth across paid content, advertising and intellectual property (IP).

By segment, IP business revenue grew 31.8 percent, the biggest increase, while paid content revenue rose 0.4 percent. Advertising revenue fell 1.1 percent.

Adjusted EBITDA was $19.44 million, or about 27.6 billion won, extending its three-year run of positive results. The operating loss narrowed 36.9 percent from $100.69 million a year earlier to $63.51 million, showing improvement. Net loss was $373.39 million, or about 530.6 billion won, reflecting the impact of goodwill impairment.

Fourth-quarter revenue fell 6.3 percent from a year earlier to $330.69 million, or about 478.8 billion won, based on an average quarterly exchange rate of 1,447.82 won. Adjusted EBITDA turned positive at $600,000 from negative $3.5 million a year earlier, helped by cost controls. Monthly paying users (MPU) rose 3.3 percent in South Korea and 5.6 percent in other regions including the United States, amid enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) recommendation features.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $581.80 million, and it is maintaining a debt-free stance.

It said IP business expansion will accelerate this year. Disney completed the purchase of a 2 percent stake in Webtoon Entertainment on Jan. 8. It plans to launch a new platform offering more than 35,000 Disney IP titles including Marvel, Star Wars and 20th Century Studios, and to introduce Disney franchise-based original webtoons within the year.

It signed a partnership with Warner Bros Animation to develop animation based on webtoons. Animation and live-action projects based on popular webtoons including "Dark Moon: The Blood Altar", "Lore Olympus" and "Viral Hit" are also under way. A live-action film based on the Wattpad web novel "Chasing Red" is set to be released through Amazon Prime Video.

Junkoo Kim (김준구), chief executive of Webtoon Entertainment and Naver Webtoon, said partnerships built with global entertainment companies last year will contribute to expanding the base of the comics industry, increasing platform readership inflows and expanding opportunities in the creative ecosystem. He said the company will focus this year on strengthening user engagement and building a solid fandom.

The company forecast first-quarter revenue to range from down 1.5 percent to up 1.5 percent on a constant-currency basis. That would be $317.00 million to $327.00 million at current exchange rates. It projected adjusted EBITDA of $0 to $5.0 million.