Naver
Corp., South Korea’s top internet portal operator, said Wednesday it has made a
strategic investment of $150 million in Indonesian media giant Emtek to
strengthen its foothold in the Southeast Asian market.
Emtek operates broadcast channels, as well as the over-the-top service Vidio,
overseeing media content production and distribution.
Through the investment, the two companies aim to collaborate and find new
business opportunities, such as in webcomics and cloud technology, in Indonesia
and the broader Southeast Asian market.
Naver, an online media powerhouse in South Korea, has popular messaging app
Line under its wing, which has 81 million users in Southeast Asia, while its
webcomic service Line Webtoon ranked as the top application in Indonesia and
Thailand in terms of sales in the comic category in Google’s Play store.
The latest move follows Naver’s investment in Singapore-based online
marketplace platform Carousell last year and in Indonesian e-commerce company
Bukalapak in 2019. (Yonhap)