[Edaily Reporter Lee So-Hyun ] Naver (NAVER(035420)) posted revenue of nearly 3.4 trillion won in the second quarter of this year, driven by growth in its advertising, commerce, and global C2C businesses, achieving its best-ever quarterly performance. However, operating profit declined slightly year-over-year due to investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

Naver announced on the 7th that it recorded consolidated revenue of 3.3888 trillion won and operating profit of 520.3 billion won for the second quarter of 2026.

Revenue increased by 16.2% compared to the same period last year. The results were driven by the effects of strengthening the integration of AI into core businesses such as advertising and commerce, as well as growth in the global C2C business.

Operating profit decreased by 0.2% year-over-year. Naver explained that operating profit declined slightly due to factors such as investments in AI infrastructure.

Revenue by business segment totaled 1.9022 trillion won for the Naver Platform, 470.7 billion won for the Financial Platform, and 1.0159 trillion won for Global Initiatives.

Revenue from the Naver Platform segment reached 1.9022 trillion won, up 12.3% year-over-year and 3.4% quarter-over-quarter.

Advertising revenue grew 7.5% year-over-year, driven by AI-based ad space optimization and enhanced targeting. Naver stated that AI contributed more than 60% to this growth in advertising revenue.

AI Briefing Ads, officially launched at the end of July, are also showing early results. According to Naver, AI Briefing Ads recorded a click-through rate more than 30% higher and a purchase conversion rate more than three times higher than traditional search ads.

Service revenue increased by 31.3% year-over-year as the growth of the commerce ecosystem accelerated through enhancements to Naver Plus Store, membership programs, and N Delivery.

Revenue from the Financial Platform reached 470.7 billion won, up 16.0% year-over-year and 2.4% quarter-over-quarter.

Second-quarter N Pay transaction volume reached 25.2 trillion won, a 21.0% increase year-over-year, driven by the growth of Smart Store and the expansion of the external ecosystem.

Naver has also made a full-scale entry into the business-to-business AI platform market through the expansion of its integrated offline terminal, “N Pay Connect.” The company plans to enhance the competitiveness of the Naver ecosystem and create new monetization opportunities by integrating online and offline data.

The Global Challenge segment recorded revenue of 1.0159 trillion won, driven by growth in the C2C business. This represents a 24.4% increase year-over-year and a 7.9% increase quarter-over-quarter. In particular, C2C revenue rose 74.9% year-over-year and 13.3% quarter-over-quarter, as transaction volume and revenue continued to grow due to strengthened competitiveness of platforms such as Wallapop, Poshmark, and Soda.

Content revenue increased by 0.5% year-over-year and 5.5% quarter-over-quarter. Enterprise revenue rose by 21.3% year-over-year and 2.2% quarter-over-quarter, driven by growth in B2B revenue related to AI and digital twins.

Naver expects revenue from its AI Factory business, which it is pursuing in partnership with NVIDIA, to begin in the first half of next year.

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, stated, “By recently forming a strategic partnership with NVIDIA to pursue the AI Factory business, Naver has established a foundation that allows us to rapidly expand the business while minimizing the initial capital burden,” adding “Through major global clients, the NVIDIA ecosystem, and our existing corporate and public-sector customer base, we will proactively secure customers for our initial operational capacity to generate meaningful revenue and profits early on, thereby establishing a new growth engine in the global AI computing market,” she added.