Seoul: Naver Corp., South Korea's largest online portal operator, announced a significant increase in its third-quarter net income, recording a nearly 40 percent rise from the previous year, primarily attributed to a one-off factor.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Naver's net income for the July-September period reached 734.7 billion won (US$510.2 million) on a consolidated basis, marking a 38.6 percent increase from the 530.1 billion won reported a year earlier. This outcome surpassed market expectations, as analysts had predicted an average net profit of 500 billion won, based on a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

For the quarter ending in September, Naver's operating income climbed 8.6 percent year-on-year to a record 570.6 billion won, while sales grew 15.6 percent to 3.13 trillion won. The sharp rise in net profit is largely due to a one-off gain following the inclusion of Line Man Wongnai, a delivery app operator in Thailand, in Naver's consolidated balance sheet.

Naver's flagship search platform saw a 6.3 percent year-on-year sales growth, reaching 1.06 trillion won, fueled by its new AI-powered search service. The commerce unit experienced a substantial 35.9 percent increase in sales to 985.5 billion won in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the financial technology unit's revenue improved by 12.5 percent to 433.1 billion won, and the content unit saw a 10 percent rise in revenue to 509.3 billion won. Sales from the enterprise business also advanced 3.8 percent, totaling 150 billion won.

Naver's CEO, Choi Soo-yeon, commented on the results, stating, "Keeping up with the upcoming AI agent environment, we will broaden AI integration across wider fields to enhance our core competitiveness while also striving to discover future growth engines for global expansion."