WEBTOON Entertainment Inc.
For the period ended Dec 31, 2025. Filed Mar 5, 2026.
View on SEC.govAbout this filing
A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.
FY2025 · Filed Mar 5, 2026
WBTN$9.67+2.2%Stored close · as of Nov 6, 2026
What changed in Risk Factors?
Read the current filingPrevious report: 10-K
Period ended 2024-12-31; filed 2025-03-11.
0001997859-25-000017
Item 1A. Risk FactorsCurrent report: 10-K
Period ended 2025-12-31; filed 2026-03-05.
0001997859-26-000028
Item 1A. Risk FactorsThe baseline is this issuer’s latest earlier reporting period of the same form that was filed before the current report. A previous 10-Q is a different quarter, not a year-over-year comparison. Amendments are excluded.
Compared 44 previous paragraphs and 337 current paragraphs.
42 unchanged; 2 reworded; 272 added; 0 removed; 0 previous and 21 current paragraphs rearranged.
Tables are not compared: 0 previous and 0 current tables excluded. Dates, whitespace, punctuation and numbering changes are ignored; changes to financial figures remain significant.
A changed paragraph is not evidence that risk increased or decreased. An unchanged paragraph does not establish that risk stayed the same.
Added paragraphs (272)
Current report
In addition, as there are few barriers for our creators to publish their content on our platform, we cannot guarantee that the content created by all creators on our platform will be of sufficient quality to attract users to our platform. Furthermore, any disputes or legal proceedings with our creators, especially the franchise stars that create popular and engaging content, may disrupt our relationships with them. Therefore, we cannot assure you that we will obtain or retain content on our platform with monetization value. If we lack popular content that can be monetized or fail to acquire a broad range of intellectual property rights of such literary content for monetization, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.
Current report
The size of our user base and our users’ level of engagement are critical to our success, and our financial performance has been, and will continue to be, significantly determined by our success in retaining, attracting and engaging MAU and converting them into MPU. From our inception, we experienced our largest user growth in Korea, Japan and North America. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, fluctuations and declines in the size of our user base in one or more markets from time to time, particularly in markets where we have achieved higher penetration rates. Any future declines in the size of our user base may adversely impact our financial performance.
Current report
Our business performance is increasingly dependent on our ability to increase levels of user engagement in current and new markets. In particular, our performance will depend on our ability to convert the popularity of web-based comics and novels in Korea and Japan into other regions. If people do not perceive our platform to be useful, reliable or trustworthy, we may not be able to attract or retain users or otherwise maintain or increase the frequency, duration or level of their engagement. A number of other online content platforms or social platforms that achieved early popularity have seen the sizes of their user bases or levels of engagement subsequently decline, in some cases precipitously.
Current report
Any number of factors could adversely affect user retention, growth or engagement, including if:
Current report
•we are unable to continue to offer content that users find highly engaging, that work with a variety of mobile operating systems, web browsers, other systems and networks and that achieve a high level of market acceptance, particularly in markets that we are targeting for expansion;
Current report
•we are unable to convert users like we do in Korea and Japan;
Current report
•users increasingly engage with competing products or services, particularly social media platforms, online content platforms and mobile games;
Current report
•we are unable to obtain, manage and prioritize content to ensure users are presented with content that is appropriate, interesting, useful and relevant to them;
Current report
•we are unable to introduce new and exciting features, products or services, or those we introduce are not favorably received;
Current report
•initiatives designed to attract and retain users and engagement are unsuccessful or discontinued, whether as a result of actions by us, users, creators, third parties or otherwise;
Current report
•we are unable to provide a compelling and intuitive user experience and environment, particularly relating to the delivery, quality, volume, design and layout of the content and advertisements delivered on our platform;
Current report
•we are unable to provide adequate customer service to users or creators, or maintain relationships with key platform partners such as advertisers;
Current report
•there are increased concerns of users or creators, or we suffer any incidents, relating to privacy, data protection, cybersecurity or safety;
Current report
•there are changes mandated by legislation, regulatory authorities or litigation that adversely affect our platform, content, users or creators; or
Current report
•we adopt terms, policies or procedures related to areas such as sharing, content, user data or advertising that are perceived negatively by our users or the general public.
Current report
There is no guarantee that we will not experience an erosion of our user base or a decline in engagement levels. A decrease in user retention, growth or engagement could negatively impact our revenue from users and render our platform less attractive to our creators and our platform advertisers, thereby reducing our revenues, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Current report
We offer both Paid Content and free content to our users on our platform. A majority of our revenues are generated from the Paid Content on our platform. Our users may access our Paid Content by purchasing our Fast Pass, which provides users with early access to upcoming episodes for ongoing series, or our Title Purchase, which provides users with access to all episodes of select completed series.
Current report
The success of our business depends largely on our ability to generate sufficient paying user traffic through engaging content so as to retain existing and attract new users that are willing to pay for the Paid Content. Among all users who use our platform in any period, only a small percentage of such users are paying users. To attract and retain our paying users, we must continue to offer engaging and diversified content that meets our users’ fast changing appetite and enhance the interaction between users and creators. To that end, we must continuously anticipate, understand and respond appropriately to market trends and rapidly changing user preferences by generating suitable content in a timely and effective manner. We may not be able to maintain or continue to increase our paying ratio to achieve expected Paid Content revenues. If we fail to cater to the fast changing needs and preferences of our users, in particular our younger generation of users whose appetite may evolve from time to time and who may have higher demand in the quality and entertaining level of content, and, as a result, fail to deliver suitable content and a satisfactory user experience, our paying users will not find our Paid Content attractive or may find our Fast Pass or Title Purchase expensive. Consequently, they may reduce their spending on our Paid Content. As we generate a majority of our revenues from our paying users, it is particularly important for us to retain and increase the percentage of paying users and to maintain or increase their spending levels. There can be no assurance that we will be able to retain or increase paying users or that paying users will maintain or increase their spending. It is possible that we could lose more paying users than we gain in the future, which would cause a decrease in the monetization of our content and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Current report
We face substantial competition across all geographic markets in which we operate and compete for both users and creators, and competitive pressures could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. We compete with companies of all sizes based on numerous factors, including our compelling, engaging and interactive content, personalized user experiences, various engaging and social features, advertising and promotional activities, brand recognition and loyalty, pricing and geographic reach. We compete for users and their engagement time with paper comics, other web-comic platforms, global entertainment companies, global gaming companies, online content platforms, as well as social platforms. Furthermore, the continued attractiveness of our content and geographic markets in which we operate may encourage the entry of new competitors of all sizes, which could increase other competitive pressures in the future. We may be unable to anticipate the timing and scale of the threats posed by our competitors or successfully respond to them. In addition, the cost of responding to increasingly significant and widespread competition worldwide, including management time and out-of-pocket expenses, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Current report
•larger sales and marketing budgets and resources;
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•broader and more established relationships and brand recognition with users and creators;
Current report
•stronger competitive positions in certain geographic regions or user demographics;
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•substantially greater financial, technical and other resources.
Current report
We expect competition to continue to increase in the future. Conditions in our market could change rapidly and significantly as a result of technological advancements, the emergence of new entrants into the market, partnering or acquisitions by our competitors, continuing market consolidation or changing creator and user preferences, which can be difficult to predict or prepare for. Our competitors vary in size, and some may have substantially broader and more diverse offerings or may be able to provide more monetization opportunities for creators.
Current report
Maintaining and enhancing the recognition and reputation of our brands is a critical component of our ability to compete for, and maintain and enhance our relationship with, creators, users and other third-party partners. We may also experience media, legislative or regulatory scrutiny of our actions or decisions regarding user privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, data use, content monitoring, advertising, competition and other issues, which may in the future adversely affect our reputation and brands. Our brands may also be negatively affected by the actions of people that are hostile or inappropriate, by accounts impersonating other people, by accounts identified as spam, by use or perceived use, directly or indirectly, of our products or services by people (including governments and government-sponsored actors) to disseminate information that may be viewed as offensive or inappropriate, by accounts introducing excessive amounts of spam on our platform, by third parties obtaining control over people’s accounts or by cyberattacks or other security incidents. Maintaining and enhancing our brands may require us to make substantial investments, and these investments may not achieve the desired goals.
Current report
Many factors, some of which are beyond our control, are important to maintaining and enhancing our brands and may negatively impact our brands and reputation if not properly managed, including our ability to:
Current report
•maintain highly engaged users as user preferences evolve and as we expand into new markets;
Current report
•increase brand awareness among existing and potential users and creators through various means of marketing and branding activities; and
Current report
•adopt new technologies or adapt our platform and our systems to new user or creator requirements or emerging industry standards.
Current report
Additionally, we receive a high degree of media coverage around the world. Negative publicity about our company or executives, including about the quality of content shared on our platform, changes to our products, policies and services, our privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and policy enforcement, litigation, regulatory activity and the actions of certain accounts (including actions taken by prominent accounts on our platform or the dissemination of information that may be viewed as hateful, misleading or manipulative), even if inaccurate, could adversely affect our reputation. Such negative publicity and reputational harm could adversely affect our creators and users and their confidence in and loyalty to our platform and could result in decreased revenue or increased costs to reestablish our brands.
Current report
We generate a portion of our revenue from advertising on our platform. Most of our advertisers do not have long-term commitments with us, and many of our advertisers can terminate their contracts with us at any time. advertisers may not continue to do business with us, or they may reduce the budgets they are willing to commit to us, if we do not deliver advertisements in an effective manner or fail to develop effective advertising products, if they do not believe that their investment in advertising with us will generate a competitive return relative to other alternatives or if they are not satisfied for any other reason. This requires us to effectively leverage digital technology and data analytics to gain new commercial insights and develop targeted marketing and advertising initiatives to reach users. If we are unable to provide advertisers with a suitable return on investment, the demand for our advertisements may not increase, or may decline, which may impact our revenue and financial results. In addition, our ability to generate and maintain our advertising revenues depends on a number of factors, including the maintenance and enhancement of our brands, our platform, the scale, engagement and loyalty of our users and the market competition on advertising prices. We cannot assure you that we will be able to retain existing advertisers or attract new ones. If we are unable to retain and enhance our relationships with advertisers, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Current report
We currently generate a substantial majority of our revenues from Paid Content distribution. We also generate a portion of our revenues from online advertising. We plan to strengthen revenue contribution from our other monetization methods, such as monetizing content on our platform via adaptations into film, streaming series and other rich media formats. We currently have various business models for IP Adaptations, including licensing out the rights to adapt content created by certain creators to intellectual property adaptation partners (e.g., studios, publishers, financiers, distributors, producers and potential buyers), participating in the pre-production phase for such adaptations, co-producing or investing in production for such adaptations alongside intellectual property adaptation partners and directly funding the entire project for such adaptations. We are still in the early stage of our adaptation business and have a limited track record of, or experience in, generating substantial revenues from such adaptations. If our adaptation initiative does not enhance our monetization ability or enable us to develop new approaches to monetization, we may not be able to substantially increase our revenues or recover any associated costs. In addition, we may in the future introduce new services to further diversify our revenue streams, including services with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. If these new or enhanced services fail to engage users, customers or content partners, we may fail to attract or retain users or to generate sufficient revenues to justify our investments and our business and operating results may suffer as a result.
Current report
Moreover, we may fail to effectively identify and develop popular content on our platform with adaptation potential, properly maintain our existing business relationship with our intellectual property adaptation partners in the future or develop new business relationships, our intellectual property adaptation partners may be less likely to source content from and develop business cooperation with us, the occurrence of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Current report
In recent years, we have grown, and we intend to continue to grow, our business by expanding our presence into new geographic markets. In seeking to expand our operations in geographic markets where we currently have a presence or to expand into new geographic markets where we currently do not have a presence, we expect, as we have in the past, to invest significant resources, incur expenses and face various challenges, including those related to compliance with market-specific laws or regulations, gaining acceptance of our platform, content and products from creators, users and third-party partners, some of whom may be less familiar with our company and our brands or have existing loyalty or relationships with competitors and their brands, the ability to monitor our platform in new and evolving markets and in different languages to confirm we maintain standards consistent with our brands and reputation and expanding our sales force and other personnel in those markets. We cannot predict with certainty the extent to which our platform, content and marketing efforts will be accepted or successful in any particular market, and it is possible that positive returns on our investments in a market will not be achieved for several years, or at all.
Current report
In addition, competition is likely to intensify in the new geographic markets where we plan to expand our presence. Local companies may have substantial competitive advantages because of their greater understanding of, and focus on, those local markets. Some of our competitors may also be able to develop and grow in certain geographic markets more quickly than we will. We may not be able to expand our presence in new geographic markets and attract creators or users in international markets and doing so will require considerable management attention and resources. International expansion is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a business in an environment of multiple languages, cultures, customs, legal systems, alternative dispute systems, regulatory systems and commercial infrastructures. If we are unable to offer our platform in certain countries, and successfully expand our presence into new geographic markets, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.
Current report
We operate our platform in multiple geographies and are subject to risks and challenges associated with an international business. While we intend to continue to expand internationally, and this expansion is an important element of our future business strategy, there is no guarantee that our international expansion efforts will be successful. Expanding our presence into new geographic markets and having creators and users globally is accompanied by certain financial, economic and political risks, including:
Current report
•local and regional economic environments and policies in the markets we serve, including interest rates, monetary policy, inflation, economic growth, recession, commodity prices and currency controls or other limitations on the ability to expatriate cash;
Current report
•currency devaluations in jurisdictions experiencing high inflation rates or significant currency exchange fluctuations;
Current report
•compliance with local regulations and laws, including in some jurisdictions, local regulations related to privacy, data protection and cybersecurity, content monitoring, preclusion and removal of online entertainment platforms, particularly as these rules apply to interactions with children;
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Reworded paragraphs (2)
Previous wording
•We have identified certain material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and if our remediation of such material weaknesses is not effective, or if we experience additional material weaknesses or otherwise are unable to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, investors could lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of shares of our common stock could be adversely affected.
Current wording
•If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, we may fail to prevent or detect material misstatements in our financial statements, in which case investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock may decline.
Previous wording
We compete to attract and empower creators by providing them the essential resources for success, including tools to create, manage and monetize their content. We compete for creators with popular technology platforms that provide creators the ability to create or distribute interactive content, and some of our creators have developed attractive businesses in developing content on our platform. Although our agreements with certain creators include certain exclusive distribution rights that the creators grant us, those agreements do not require them to continue to use our platform for any time period to create new content. In the future, if we are unable to continue to provide value to these creators and if they have alternative methods to publish and monetize their content, they may not continue to provide content to our platform. Should we fail to provide compelling advantages to continued use of our ecosystem to creators, they may elect to develop content on competing interactive entertainment platforms. We must continue to invest significant resources in research and development, including through acquisitions, in order to enhance our technology and platform. If a significant number of our creators no longer provide content, we may experience an overall reduction in the quality of user experiences, which could adversely affect users’ interest in our platform and lead to a loss of revenue opportunities and adversely affect our
Current wording
We compete to attract and empower creators by providing them the essential resources for success, including tools to create, manage and monetize their content. We compete for creators with popular technology platforms that provide creators the ability to create or distribute interactive content, and some of our creators have developed attractive businesses in developing content on our platform. Although our agreements with certain creators include certain exclusive distribution rights that the creators grant us, those agreements do not require them to continue to use our platform for any time period to create new content. In the future, if we are unable to continue to provide value to these creators and if they have alternative methods to publish and monetize their content, they may not continue to provide content to our platform. Should we fail to provide compelling advantages to continued use of our ecosystem to creators, they may elect to develop content on competing interactive entertainment platforms. We must continue to invest significant resources in research and development, including through acquisitions, in order to enhance our technology and platform. If a significant number of our creators no longer provide content, we may experience an overall reduction in the quality of user experiences, which could adversely affect users’ interest in our platform and lead to a loss of revenue opportunities and adversely affect our results of operations. Failure to adequately identify and provide sufficient monetization opportunities could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Rearranged current paragraphs (21)
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
Our growth depends on our ability to retain, attract and engage with our users, and our ability to anticipate, understand and respond appropriately to market trends and rapidly changing user preferences in a timely manner.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
If we fail to retain or increase our paying users or if we fail to maintain or continue to increase our paying ratio, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We operate in highly competitive markets, and we face significant competition to attract and empower our creators and users.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
Maintaining and enhancing the market recognition and reputation of our brands is a critical component of our relationship with creators, users and other third parties.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
Our growth depends on our ability to innovate and expand our advertising business and to develop effective advertising products.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We intend to continue to diversify our monetization strategy and increase revenues from IP Adaptations, which may not be successful.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We intend to continue to expand our presence in existing and into new geographic markets and execute upon our growth initiatives, and our international expansion efforts may not be successful.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We face a variety of risks associated with conducting business around the world, and these risks will increase as we continue to expand our presence into new geographic markets.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
Our future growth depends on our ability to continue innovating our platform to offer attractive features and safe and civil experiences for our creators and users.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We depend on effectively operating with mobile operating systems, hardware, technologies, products, standards and networks that we do not control, and changes to any of these or our platform could adversely affect our user retention, growth, engagement and monetization.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We have a history of net losses, and we anticipate increasing expenses in the future, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
If we fail to control our content-related costs, the expenses we incur may exceed the increase in revenues.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
The future success of our business relies heavily on our sales and marketing efforts, and if we fail to maintain sales and marketing efficiency, the marketing expenses we incur as we grow may exceed the increase in revenues.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We are, and could become, subject to significant legal proceedings and regulatory investigations that may result in significant expenses, fines and reputational damage.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
The success of our growth strategy depends on our ability to provide a safe online environment for children.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We are subject to complex and evolving federal, state and international laws, regulations, rules, standards and contractual obligations regarding privacy, data protection and cybersecurity, which could result in investigations, claims, changes to our business practices, increased cost of operations and declines in user growth, retention or engagement, any of which could adversely affect our business.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
Claims by others that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights through the activities of our creators or users or the content on our platform could subject us to liability.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
Our defenses to claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of third-party intellectual property rights are costly and may not be successful.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
Failure to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our proprietary and intellectual property rights could adversely affect our business.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
NAVER controls a significant percentage of our voting power and may have interests that conflict with the interests of other stockholders.
Current report — wording carried from elsewhere
We are a “controlled company” and, as a result, qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.