[THE INVESTOR] Shares of Naver soared to an all-time high on Sept. 7, making the Korean Internet giant the nation’s fourth largest company in terms of market value.

The price closed at 872,000 won (US$798), up 3.44 percent from the previous trading day. The figure is the highest ever since its stock debut on the local bourse in November 2008. 




On the day, the company’s market value was at 28.74 trillion won, the fourth after   Samsung Electronics (229.64 trillion won), Korea Electric Power Corp. (37.55 trillion won) and Hyundai Motor (30.61 trillion won).

Naver shares have continued rallying since its affiliate LINE’s successful initial public offering in the US and Japan in July, especially driven by foreign investors’ net buying.

Compared to the price at the end of last year, the latest figure is a 33 percent surge.

Some analysts here predict that the stock price could surge to more than 1 million won due to the growing popularity of LINE messenger as a social media platform.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)