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“This business is a great opportunity to dominate the national market. You have to be proactive. “
“I understand the meaning, but what wouldn’t the government or politics say? Let’s think more about it. “
A conference room at Naver in Bundang, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do in the middle of last month. There was a controversy about the new business in Korea. Young employees insisted that new businesses with this ability should be actively promoted. He said that now is the right time to start a business because he has had new ideas and has been preparing. However, the executive in charge had a different idea. The government and politicians said that Naver should also pay attention to the views of the government and politicians, whether Naver is conquering the new market or not. It was concluded that today’s meeting was to give more time and consider more.
Naver officials said the thoughts of founder Lee Hae-jin, Manager of Global Investments (GIO), were reflected in the cautious view of Naver executives on expanding their domestic businesses. A company official said, “It’s okay not to make money in Korea, so don’t wear a headband and make people object.” He said, “It would be better not to do new business in Korea” to the top executives of the company.
It is said that this GIO came to think this way in April last year, when the ‘Tada Ban Act’ was approved by the National Assembly. A Naver official said: “It was an innovative service called ‘Tada’, but I know this GIO was surprised when taxi drivers wore headbands and opposed them and raised the hands of taxi drivers in politics.” Naver domestic employees are known to be dissatisfied with Naver’s policy of focusing on foreign companies, as opportunities to be recognized for their skills have diminished.
Haejin Lee “You don’t have to make money, so let’s wear a headband and avoid opposing businesses.”
Naver prison crime is a regulatory fever
At Naver, Korea’s largest online company, a conflict is emerging between young employees and leadership. When young employees come up with new business ideas in Korea for their own reasons, there are more and more instances of leadership blocking or regulating the pace. Naver’s internal and external message is that founder Lee Hae-jin, Naver’s Global Investment Officer (GIO), is showing a cautious vision of expanding his domestic business.
○ Naver is reluctant to expand its national business
It is reported that GIO Hae-jin Hae-jin began to be skeptical about expanding his domestic business after receiving the appointment of the head of the Fair Trade Commission in 2017. The FTC has a system for designating the total number (same person ) from companies with assets exceeding 5 trillion won. Based on this, it was announced that it would designate this GIO as the total number in 2017. Naver argued that the GIO’s share of ownership was only around 4% and that it was problematic to classify the CEO of a start-up company with the total number of large companies in the past.
However, he stopped. As this GIO was designated as the same person, all family members and related businesses were included in the disclosure. Because of this, the GIO was charged with prosecution last year for withholding a company owned by an executive from the Naver Cultural Foundation from public disclosure. A Naver official said: “It was the Naver Cultural Foundation that was created to do good things for future generations, like the Bill Gates Foundation.” In particular, the GIO is urging to be cautious and cautious about expanding national businesses after the National Assembly passed the ‘Tada Ban Law’ in April last year.
Recently, the government and politicians are imposing various regulations on big tech companies like Naver. A representative one is the amendment to the Electronic Commerce Law, which was announced on the 8th. The key is to ensure that platform operators like Naver take joint responsibility when a dispute occurs between a store and a consumer on an online platform. like Naver.
The online platform equity method promoted by the FTC is also a heavy burden on big tech companies. Above all, there is a strong reaction from the industry on the content of which some of the search algorithms are going to be disclosed. Naver objected that “disclosing an algorithm is the same as asking a restaurant to disclose a recipe,” but the FTC contends that it is natural to inform participating companies about what influences search results. In addition to this, the FTC is further strengthening the regulatory organization by expanding the dedicated information and communication technology (ICT) team and by establishing the ‘Applications Market Subcommittee’. President Cho Sung-wook is increasing the intensity of regulation of the platform, saying, “I will make achieving a just digital economy my first task.”
○ Naver Healthcare cannot take a step
The GIO’s concern about such regulatory pressures is known to have a major impact on Naver’s strategy. In fact, Naver is moving the core of areas like finance, health and content, which are key foods in the future, to the United States, Japan and Thailand.
This is the result of this GIO’s intention that Naver not go directly into the banking business unlike Kakao. It can be interpreted as a burden with the fact that the moment you enter the financial industry, you can cause friction with existing business operators and that you will also increase the control of regulatory authorities. Naver Webtoon, where foreign venture capitalists (VCs) are rushing to invest, also recently moved its headquarters to the United States. Naver Webtoon is evaluated as a central platform for disseminating K content.
The healthcare sector is also a field where Naver is unable to step up its business in Korea due to concerns about external backlash. Recently, Na Gun-ho, a professor at Yonsei University Severance Hospital, which is assessed as the world’s leading authority in the field of robotic surgery, was selected as the director of the Naver Health Research Institute, but has not yet begun. a whole new business. It is known that the company plans to first provide medical check-up services to Japanese employees. This is because in Japan, the burden is light because remote medical service is provided through the line. An IT industry official lamented that “the remote medical treatment business is dominated by US and Chinese companies such as Teladok and Pingan Healthcare, while Naver hesitates.”
Journalist Jihoon Lee / Minki Gu [email protected]
