Kirkland Advises WEBTOON Entertainment on its IPO

Kirkland & Ellis advised Los Angeles-based WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: WBTN) on its initial public offering, which priced on June 26, 2024. WEBTOON is a leading global entertainment company and home to some of the world’s largest storytelling platforms where a vibrant community of creators and users discover, create and share content.

The offering consists of 15 million shares of common stock to be issued and sold by WEBTOON at an IPO price of $21 per share. In connection with the offering, WEBTOON has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.25 million shares of common stock to cover over-allotments. Concurrently with the offering, an affiliate of NAVER has agreed to purchase $50 million of common stock at the IPO price in a private placement transaction. The common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “WBTN” on June 27, 2024, and the IPO is expected to close on June 28, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Kirkland team was led by capital markets partners Michael Kim, Josh Korff, Alborz Tolou, Christina Thomas and Ann Becchina, and associates Kaangrok Yoo, Elise Wang, Sean Choi, Sandy Park and Richard Hong; corporate partners Edward Lee, Shaun Mathew and Evan Johnson and associates Inhae Song, Seung Bo Choi and Vera Lee; antitrust & competition partner Michael Thorpe; employment & labor partner Christine Lacku; ESG & Impact partner Abbey Raish; executive compensation partners Rohit Nafday, Stephanie Jeane and John Kleinjan and associates Grace Zagorskis, Rebecca Arnall and Michal Galayevich; government & internal investigations partners Daniel Gerkin and Nick Niles and associate Zach Sommers; investment funds partner Joshua Westerholm; litigation partners Stefan Atkinson, Kim Nemirow and William Pruitt and associate Sabrina Schulman; tax partners David Grenker, Adam Kool and Jake Jung and associate Joseph Riddle; and technology & IP transactions partners Seth Traxler, Bernadette Coppola, Kevin Jacobsen and Jacqueline Clover and associates Donovan Suh and Jessie Perlman.