이 기사는 2021년 07월 02일 07:32 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Naver Corp has bought a minority stake in Tving, CJ ENM’s streaming service, in a deal that is likely to give the South Korean internet giant the upper hand over rival Coupang in the digital content industry.

A regulatory filing on Wednesday revealed that Naver acquired 261,817 shares, or 15.38% in the streaming platform in a private placement.

The stake purchase follows the share swap between Naver and CJ Group in October 2020, which allowed Naver to secure a 6.26% stake in Studio Dragon, CJ’s drama production studio, and a 4.996% stake in CJ ENM, which owns TV channels including tvN.

The partnership aimed for synergy between Naver’s intellectual properties of digital comics and CJ’s production and broadcasting operations.

Naver intends to use the latest deal to expand its ecommerce user base, industry watchers said. Ecommerce players at home and abroad have increasingly launched streaming services in a bid to make users spend more time on their platforms. Ecommerce giant Coupang also launched its own streaming service, Coupang Play, last year.

Naver has been strengthening its partnership with Tving. It began in March to allow Naver Plus users free access to content on Tving.

Naver is expected to step up investment in the content business. In January, it announced the acquisition of Canada-based social storytelling platform Wattpad. After the deal closed, studio divisions of the two companies were merged to create Wattpad Webtoon Studios. (Reporting by Pil-woo Choi)