Meta Pauses Employee Activity Tracking Program Over Data Security Concerns 
U.S. Dollar Reaches One-Year High as Tech Sell-Off and Fed Rate Hike Expectations Support Demand 
Asian Markets Rally as Micron and Qualcomm AI Outlook Lifts Global Tech Stocks 
Alphabet Stock Slides as AI Talent Exodus and SpaceX Losses Shake Investor Confidence 
Heineken Names JDE Peet’s CEO Rafael Oliveira as New Chief Executive 
Anthropic AI Model Uncovers Vulnerabilities in Classified U.S. Government Systems During Security Test 
Oil Prices Slip as Iran Sanctions Relief and Hormuz Shipping Recovery Ease Supply Concerns 
Trump Requests $11 Billion More in Farm Aid as Rising Costs Pressure U.S. Farmers 
Tencent Reviews Marvelous Stake as Gaming Giant Reassesses Global Investment Strategy 
Fortescue Faces Class Action Over Sexual Harassment Claims at Australian Mining Sites 
Samsung Electronics Stock Surges on Report of Massive $59 Billion Share Buyback Plan 
Tesla and NatPower Partner on $5 Billion Battery Storage Expansion in Europe 
KPMG Australia Chairman and Senior Partners Exit Amid Escalating Whistleblower Scandal 
U.S.-Iran Diplomacy Helps Drive Gasoline Prices Down 15% From May Highs 
DOJ Opens Investigation Into NYC Coffee Shop Over Anti-Goldman Social Media Post 
Wall Street Slides as AI Stocks Tumble Following South Korea Tech Sell-Off 
Naver debuted in the market as South Korea’s first web portal and search engine, and this was in 1999. The company has expanded and branched out to several other businesses, including e-commerce and entertainment, and now it is adding another biz to its portfolio as it invests in the area of healthcare.
Naver Corp. is officially entering the healthcare business with its new investment to acquire stakes in ezCaretech, a leading Electronic Health Record (EHR) provider headquartered in South Korea and operating globally including the U.S., Japan, and Saudi Arabia.
The online platform giant is planning to buy at least a 10% stake in ezCaretech that is reportedly worth ₩30 billion or about $26 million. With this investment, Naver will start its data-based healthcare venture through the said medical IT service provider.
According to The Korea Economic Daily, Naver and ezCaretech are already in the final stage of negotiations and they could sign a deal before this month ends. If everything goes well, Naver will become the second-biggest shareholder of ezCaretech following Seoul National University Hospital. The talks are ongoing and at this time, nothing has been decided yet.
The EHR company was founded in 2001 and it is servicing more or less 100 medical institutions in S. Korea and overseas. It provides EHR and electronic medical record (EMR) services by installing these medical recording systems in hospitals. In its home ground, the Seoul National University Hospital, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, and Ewha Womans University Medical Center are its clients.
“ezCaretech has accumulated the EMR/EHR system management know-how since the early 2000s and Naver, as an IT company, has strong expertise in data management and cloud services,” KED quoted an industry official as saying. “A combination of the two would create synergy in digital and remote healthcare services.”
News Directory3 reported that once Naver completes its stake acquisition in ezCaretech, it will start the business by focusing and prioritizing the EMR cloud business first. From here, analysts think the company will slowly expand its field in the healthcare niche. Eventually, it may become a global medical data-based IT service provider like Amazon and Google.
“Global information technology (IT) companies such as Google and Amazon have entered the healthcare market by sharing data with the American Medical Association and insurance companies,” Naver CEO, Lee Sang Heon, previously said regarding his IT vision for the company. “The core of the healthcare business is data, and the IT company that can best utilize it is the right person.”
