South Korean internet giant Naver and the country’s top biopharma companies Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics have been listed on Fortune’s Future 50, which ranks global companies with the best prospects for long-term growth.

The global business magazine on Friday announced the Future 50 list, compiled annually in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group. 


Naver, which operates Korea’s dominant portal website, ranked sixth. Celltrion, a developer of biosimilar drugs, ranked 17th, while contract drug manufacturer Samsung BioLogics came in at No. 47.

Fortune said Naver’s share price has more than doubled since 2013, and that the firm is poised to extend its reach in cloud services and payment processing. It also praised Line, its mobile messaging subsidiary, and its foray into cryptocurrency.

With its arsenal of biosimilars -- cheaper copies of pricy cell-based biologic drugs -- Celltrion was projected to achieve up to 25 percent future annual growth, with sales in multiple markets.

Meanwhile, Fortune projected Samsung BioLogics to generate annual revenue growth of 40-60 percent for years to come through its possession of the world’s largest pipelines for biosimilar drugs in partnership with Biogen and AstraZeneca.

“Through its inclusion in the Fortune 50 list, Samsung BioLogics has been recognized globally for its potential and growth prospects,” Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han said in a statement.

“We will continue to innovate and expand into global markets to become the world’s top biopharmaceutical developer and manufacturer that can benefit both our clients and patients,” he said.

Topping the Future 50 list was US software maker Workday, followed by China’s Weibo in second place, ServiceNow in third, Ctrip.com International in fourth and Vipshop Holdings in fifth.

Naver, which ranked sixth, was followed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Netflix, S.F. Holdings, Salesforce, Nvidia, NetEase, Sunac China Holdings, Alibaba Group Holdings, Baidu and Tencent Holdings.

Fortune’s Future 50 ranks the global companies with the best prospects for long-term growth, having “demonstrated both steady execution and forward-looking strategic nimbleness,” according to the magazine.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)