Naver said it will make this year a turning point for a commerce leap by expanding artificial intelligence (AI) search and strengthening N Delivery infrastructure as its two main pillars.

Naver said on Thursday it posted 2025 annual revenue of 12.04 trillion won and operating profit of 2.21 trillion won. That was up 12.1 percent and 11.6 percent from a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenue came to 3.20 trillion won and operating profit to 610.6 billion won, up 10.7 percent and 12.7 percent from a year earlier.

In the fourth quarter, commerce led growth, rising 36.0 percent from a year earlier to 1.05 trillion won. Fintech rose 13.0 percent to 453.1 billion won.

AI Briefing to double by year-end; shopping agent to be unveiled in late February

Naver CEO Soo-yeon Choi (최수연) said during the earnings release that 2025 was a year in which the company focused its capabilities on strengthening competitiveness in core businesses such as advertising and commerce by applying AI to content and data, and confirmed search competitiveness in the AI era through expanding AI Briefing.

AI Briefing expanded to cover as much as 20 percent of integrated search queries within 8 months of its launch, leading changes in user search behavior. Long-tail queries of 15 characters or more more than doubled versus April, when the service was in its early stage after launch. After applying personalization technology, the click-through rate for follow-up questions rose by an additional more than 20 percent.

Naver plans to expand the scope of AI Briefing to about double the current level by the end of this year. It plans to focus on expanding within informational areas, while widening the scope to shopping and local areas and further advancing personalized experiences.

An AI tab due to launch in the first half will connect with Naver services such as shopping, Place and Maps to provide a conversational AI search experience that leads to actions such as purchases, reservations and orders. Choi said, "AI will actively intervene to provide a new experience that supports the entire search journey."

A shopping agent is set to be unveiled in late February. Choi said, "We will run an in-house closed beta starting next week," and said it will sequentially launch various vertical agents within the year, starting with shopping and extending to restaurants, Place, travel and finance.

AI contributed 55 percent of Naver's 8.8 percent growth rate in total platform advertising revenue in 2025. Naver forecast the AI contribution will expand further this year. With the integration of advertiser centers for search and display and an expansion of advertiser-friendly programs, the number of performance-based advertisers as of end-December more than doubled from a year earlier.

AI search monetization will be tested from the second half. Choi said, "We are reviewing ways for ads to blend naturally into useful content without disrupting the user's exploration flow."

N Delivery targets 50 percent within 3 years; aims double-digit Smartstore growth

Naver set strengthening delivery competitiveness as the top priority of its commerce strategy. Choi said, "We will leave open all possibilities across partnerships, infrastructure and overall operations to fundamentally raise delivery competitiveness," adding, "We will implement a level of delivery experience that can change market perception."

N Delivery coverage will expand to 25 percent this year and to more than 35 percent next year, and the goal is more than 50 percent within 3 years, at least tripling the current level. Choi said, "In the mid to long term, the goal is to raise delivery to a level where it is a reason to choose Naver Shopping, not a limiting factor."

Cumulative downloads of the Naver Plus Store app in the fourth quarter topped 12.9 million. The number of new membership sign-ups in December rose 71 percent from the previous month, and this growth is continuing in January. The goal is to increase active membership users by more than 20 percent from a year earlier this year.

The global C2C business also continued to grow. Poshmark posted more than 20 percent growth in both fourth-quarter revenue and transaction volume from a year earlier. Wallapop, whose acquisition was completed at the end of January, also recorded double-digit performance growth in the European C2C market in 2025.

Based on this, Naver set a target of double-digit growth in Smartstore transaction volume this year. Smartstore annual transaction volume in 2025 rose 10 percent from a year earlier.

Choi said, "Content is an area where user touchpoints and data accumulated across the Naver platform, such as search, community and commerce, are combined, and it plays a role in increasing the density of the Naver ecosystem." She said Naver will strengthen its content ecosystem by securing premium content such as League of Legends and broadcast rights for the Olympics and the World Cup.

Sovereign AI monetization to ramp up; shareholder returns up to 35 percent of 2-year FCF

Naver secured sovereign AI monetization references in its B2B business. Fourth-quarter enterprise revenue, excluding the effect of reflecting settlement payments from Line Yahoo in the year-earlier period, rose 16.6 percent to 171.8 billion won.

Naver announced in the fourth quarter a Korea-specific medical LLM model it co-developed with Seoul National University Hospital. In January it completed the construction of an AI platform specialized in finance and economics with the Bank of Korea, the first such platform for a central bank worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, service revenue related to a digital twin superapp was generated from the fourth quarter at a joint venture with the Ministry of Housing.

Choi said, "Based on successful experience in Korea, we are carrying out a number of digital transformation projects in Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Japan," adding, "We will continue to focus on improving AI technology competitiveness and discover various sovereign AI business opportunities at home and abroad."

Naver also announced a new 3-year shareholder return plan for 2025 to 2027. Over the next 3 years, it will return 25 to 35 percent of the prior 2-year average consolidated free cash flow (FCF) through share buybacks followed by cancellation or through cash dividends.

For its 2025 year-end dividend, it plans to pay 393.6 billion won, equivalent to 30 percent of the 2-year average consolidated FCF, in April after approval at a shareholders meeting in March. The dividend per share is 2,630 won.

From the first quarter, Naver will change its revenue categories to Naver Platform (advertising, services), Financial Platform, and Global Challenges (C2C, content, enterprise).