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Line Corporation

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Line Corporation
Native name
Line kabushiki gaisha
Formerly
  • Hangame Japan (2000-2002)
  • NHN Japan (2003-2013)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryInternetandTelecommunications
PredecessorNHN Japan
FoundedSeptember 4, 2000;24 years ago(2000-09-04),inTokyo, Japan
DefunctOctober 1, 2023
FateMerged withZ HoldingsandYahoo! Japan
SuccessorLY Corporation
Headquarters
Shinjuku,Tokyo
,
Japan
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Takeshi Idezawa,CEO
ProductsLine,livedoor
ServicesLine App, Line Manga, Line Play, Line Taxi
Revenue¥166.4B "$1.5B USD" (2020)
Total assets¥541.4B "$5B USD" (2020)
Total equity¥147.7B "$1.4B USD" (2020)
Number of employees
2,268
ParentZ Holdings(65.3%)
SubsidiariesLine Plus Corporation
Line Business Partners Corporation
DataHotel Co., Ltd.
Line Digital Frontier
Line Vietnam
Line Company Thailand
Websitewww.lycorp.co.jp

Line Corporation(Line kabushiki gaisha,RainKabushiki gaisha)was a Japanese Internet company. It was a subsidiary ofZ Holdings,a joint venture betweenSoftBank GroupandNaver Corporation.It was established in 2000 as the Japanese subsidiary of South KoreanNHN Corporation's online game community siteHangame,under the nameHangame Japan[1].In 2003, it was renamedNHN Japanand in 2013, it was rebranded as Line Corporation.

The company operates various internet services, including the communication appLine,as well asLine Music,andLine Manga,and Line Pay.

In 2019, during the merger with Yahoo, Line Corporation (the original entity) was reorganized into a holding company and established as Line Split Preparation Corporation, and in 2021, it changed its company name to Line Corporation (2nd generation) by taking over the business from the original entity. At this time, the original entity changed its name to A Holdings Corporation.

On February 2, 2023, it was announced that Z Holdings and Yahoo would merge during the fiscal year 2023.[2]On October 1 of the same year, Yahoo, Z Entertainment, and Z Data merged into Z Holdings and changed their name to "Line Yahoo Corporation."[3][4]Line Corporation transferred its assets, rights, and businesses to Line Yahoo Corporation through absorption-type split except for certain overseas stocks, and changed its name to the current one.[5]It is expected to become a holding company managing overseas subsidiaries' stocks and other assets through business reorganization.

History

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Line Corporation was founded on September 4, 2000, asHangame Japanas a part ofHangame,a South Korean game company owned byNHNat the time. In August 2003, the company was renamed toNHN Japan.

In 2007 Naver established another Japanese subsidiaryNaver Japan,which managed the Naver search engine in Japan before its demise. Naver Japan acquiredLivedoorin 2010.

In 2012, Naver merged the three entities (NHN Japan, Naver Japan, Livedoor) into a new subsidiary known asNHN Japan.[6]

On April 1, 2013, the company changed its name and traded asLine Corporation.[7]Later that same year, NHN split into two companies,Naver CorporationandNHN Entertainment Corporationand the latter created a newNHN Japan Corporationsubsidiary.[8]

In July 2016, Line Corporation heldIPOson both theNew York Stock Exchangeand theTokyo Stock Exchange.[9]

In late December 2020, Line delisted from both the New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange,[10]in advance of its absorption-type merger agreement with Z Holdings.[11]

In March 2021 Line Corporation merged withYahoo Japan,which has been operated byZ Holdings,aSoftBank Groupsubsidiary.[12]Under the new structure,Naver Corporation(Line's former parent company) and SoftBank Corp. (the wireless carrier unit of SoftBank Group) each hold 50 percent stakes in a new company named A Holdings Corp., which holds a majority stake in Z Holdings, which will operate Line and Yahoo Japan.[12][13][14]Upon integrating the two businesses and creating further platforms, the merged company aims to compete with the U.S. tech giants Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple and the Chinese tech giantsBaidu,Alibaba,andTencent,[13]as well as the Japanese e-commerce giantRakuten.[12]The merger also gives Z Holdings three additional Asian markets where Line is popular: Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia.[12]

In April 2021, Line Corporation launched Line Bank, acommercial bankheadquartered inTaipei,Taiwan.[15][16][17]

In February 2023, Z Holdings announced its intention to merge its subsidiaries, Line and Yahoo Japan.[18]In April, it was announced that the merger would be implemented on October 1, along with a simultaneous name change toLY Corporation.[19]

References

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  1. ^ハンゲームジャパン
  2. ^"Line とヤフー, thân hội xã の Ｚホールディングスと３ xã で xác nhập へ".Đọc bán tin tức.2023-02-02.Retrieved2023-02-02.
  3. ^ヤフー kabushiki gaisha と Line kabushiki gaisha の lợi dụng quy ước thống hợp の ご án nội
  4. ^[1][2][3]
  5. ^グループ nội lại biên ( tử hội xã の hiện vật xứng đương による tôn hội xã の dị động ならびに hoàn toàn tử hội xã と の hút thâu xác nhập および hút thâu phân cách ) および tử hội xã の hiệu buôn 変 càng に quan する quyết định の お biết らせ
  6. ^"Milestones: Company: Naver".navercorp.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-10-22.
  7. ^"Line Corporation".Line Corporation.
  8. ^"Korean Internet Company NHN Splits To Battle Kakao (Updated)".Forbes.RetrievedFebruary 9,2018.
  9. ^Fiegerman, Seth (13 July 2016)."Line goes public: what you need to know about the year's biggest tech IPO".CNN Business.Retrieved23 November2021.
  10. ^"Announcement Regarding the Delisting of the Common Shares of Line Corporation from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Delisting of the American Depositary Shares from the New York Stock Exchange"(PDF).Line Corporation.28 December 2020.Retrieved23 November2021.
  11. ^"Form 6-K".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Line Corporation. December 2020.Retrieved23 November2021.
  12. ^abcd"Yahoo Japan operator, Line merge to take on foreign tech giants".Kyodo News.1 March 2021.Retrieved9 November2021.
  13. ^abMasuda, Yoko (1 March 2021)."Yahoo Japan, Line integrate businesses to be major '3rd force'".The Asahi Shimbun.Retrieved9 November2021.
  14. ^Eun-Soo, Jin (1 March 2021)."Naver and SoftBank's A Holdings joint venture established".Korea JoongAng Daily.Retrieved9 November2021.
  15. ^"Line Bank to trial this week, launch by next month".Archivedfrom the original on 2021-06-06.Retrieved2021-06-18.
  16. ^"Internet-only Line Bank Commences Trial Operations in Taiwan".Retrieved2021-06-18.
  17. ^"Japan's Line Banks on Fintech in Taiwan".Archivedfrom the original on 2021-06-06.Retrieved2021-06-18.
  18. ^Ngày kinh ビジネス điện tử bản."Zホールディングスがヤフー・Line xã と xác nhập, なぜ “Line gửi り” nhân sự な の か ".Ngày kinh ビジネス điện tử bản(in Japanese).Retrieved2023-07-10.
  19. ^"ZHD, tân xã danh は “Line ヤフー” 10 nguyệt にIDを liền huề ".Nhật Bản kinh tế tin tức(in Japanese). 2023-04-28.Retrieved2023-07-10.
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