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Choi Soo-yeon, representative of Naver. (photo= Yonhap news) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Jisun] Naver announced a special shareholder return program to purchase and retire approximately KRW 400 billion worth of shares by the end of the year.
On the 30th, Naver revealed its plan to buy back and cancel 1.5% of its outstanding shares using funds from a special dividend from A Holdings, a joint venture between Naver and Japan’s SoftBank. This move is in addition to the existing shareholder return policy, which Naver has been executing over the past three years.
In 2023, Naver introduced a shareholder return program that involves paying cash dividends of 15–30% of the two-year average free cash flow (FCF) and retiring 3% of treasury shares over three years at a rate of 1% per year.
Although Naver’s performance this year has been strong, the company's stock has continued to decline due to concerns about future growth. Naver’s stock, which hit an all-time high of KRW 465,000 on July 26, 2021, fell nearly 50% to KRW 227,500 by January 2 this year, and reached a 52-week low of KRW 151,100 on August 5. The stock closed at KRW 169,400 on the 30th.
Naver stated, "From October 2 to December 28, we will purchase approximately 2.35 million shares, or about 1.5% of the total outstanding shares, and retire them on December 31." The company emphasized that the decision to enhance shareholder value through a stronger buyback was made in response to the significant decline in share price.
CEO Choi Soo-yeon, along with key executives, has also been purchasing shares to actively address the stock's decline. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Naver executives bought a total of 2,819 shares in September. On September 6, CEO Choi personally acquired 1,244 shares, increasing her shareholding from 4,474 to 5,718 shares.
Naver plans to continue formulating new shareholder return programs while actively reinvesting profits into core business areas to enhance future growth potential.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
