[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Wattpad, a subsidiary of Naver and a North American web novel platform, made another cut in a year.
According to the webtoon industry on the 30th, Wattpad fired about 30 employees, or 15% of the total workforce, earlier this month. This is the second cut since 42 people were cut in March last year.
Wattpad is a large web novel company that Naver acquired in 2021 for $ 600 million (about 653.3 billion won at that time).
Aiming for synergy between North American Webtoon Entertainment, the parent company of Naver Webtoon, and WhatPad, the company hired about 100 new employees over two years immediately after the Wattpad acquisition, but failed to achieve the expected results.
Wattpad seems to have decided to cut back to streamline management ahead of Naver Webtoon's listing on the U.S. stock market.
AlphaBIZ 김지선(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
