Han Seong-Sook

Han led Naver, South Korea’s leading Internet provider, on an investment spree last year, bulking up spending on artificial intelligence and new services like Naver Pay, Webtoon, and its Japanese messenger subsidiary Line. That’s thinned the $5 billion company’s margins, but Naver’s core search, content and advertising businesses performed well—in part because of A.I.-enhancements—with revenues up 17% in the second quarter of 2019. Naver faces increasingly stiff competition in its home market but is meanwhile pursuing growth abroad, forming joint mobile banking ventures in neighboring countries and taking its Webtoon business global.

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