Line to be delisted on the 29th... Accelerating integration with Yahoo in March next year

About Four Years After Listing in August 2016... Likely to Focus on AI After Integration

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Line, which is undergoing a business integration with Yahoo Japan aiming for March next year, will be delisted on the 29th to accelerate the integration process.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 16th, Line held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders the day before and passed a stock merger plan necessary for integration with Z Holdings, the parent company of Yahoo Japan. As a result, Line, which was listed on the Japanese stock market in August 2016, will be delisted on the 29th of this month after about four years.

Line and Yahoo signed a basic agreement on business integration on November 18 last year and signed the main contract in December of the same year. Since then, they have been seeking approval from regulatory authorities in Korea and Japan aiming for business integration in October this year, but the schedule was delayed longer than expected, and final approval was obtained in August. The integration timing was postponed to March next year.

After integration, the two companies will place Z Holdings under a joint venture company equally funded by their parent companies, SoftBank and Naver, with Yahoo and Line becoming subsidiaries. Currently, employees from both companies regularly meet by business sector to discuss how to maximize business synergy.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun stated, "The two companies are looking for synergistic effects in business areas such as new businesses using artificial intelligence (AI)," and predicted that, since both companies have many AI talents, the integration will lead to the development of advanced AI technology and new services. A senior Line official said that it is easy to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses with Yahoo. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun viewed that "the new company aims to become a global technology company capable of competing with the giant IT companies in the US and China," and "for that, the power of the SoftBank Group is necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.