What Happened?

Shares of digital storytelling platform WEBTOON (NASDAQ: WBTN) fell 14.2% in the morning session after the company reported weak first quarter 2025 results: its revenue and EPS missed. The shortfall was driven by a modest decline in Paid Content sales, which remained the company's largest revenue stream, even as Advertising and IP Adaptations grew modestly. Adjusted EBITDA fell a lot from the prior year, and margins shrank, as operating expenses soared. These cost increases overwhelmed the modest top-line performance and pushed adjusted earnings per share down. 

For the second quarter, WEBTOON guided to modest low single-digit revenue growth and roughly break-even EBITDA margin (0.1%-1.6%), signaling continued pressure on profitability. Overall, this was a weaker quarter.

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What The Market Is Telling Us

WEBTOON’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 40 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for WEBTOON and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.

WEBTOON is down 37.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $8.50 per share, it is trading 64.4% below its 52-week high of $23.85 from July 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of WEBTOON’s shares at the IPO in June 2024 would now be looking at an investment worth $369.57.

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