Lezhin Entertainment

Founded in 2013 by CEO Han Hee Sung, Lezhin Comics is currently the No. 1 paid webcomic platform in Korea and has movie and network television properties in development. In 2015, the company launched Lezhin Comics Japan, which includes both Japanese and Korean comic art. With the advent of the internet and Korea's IT infrastructure, Lezhin Entertainment developed as a result of Han watching young adults grow out of, and lose interest in, the printed comic books written for children. Today, one out of every three people are reading Webtoons while commuting, standing in line, at the coffee shop or right before bedtime. Not only do stories of everyday life appeal to teens and young adults, but young professional females in their 20s now take the lead in readership. People of the LGBT community have also increased due to flexibility Lezhin allows their creative team to produce diverse content. Awarded at Korea's Internet Awards Ceremony in the fall of 2014, Lezhin Entertainment received "The Prime Minster Award" for bringing the foremost annual contributions to the internet market, monetizing Webtoons, revenue sharing with creators, improving the webtoon ecosystem, creating overseas expansion and rewarded artists with grants and scholarships to universities with comic department/majors. A year later, Lezhin held their second world comic contest with no restriction on submissions (which came in English Japanese and Chinese too). Lezhin gave awards to winners and published their work on Lezhin platform in addition to winning prize money.