Yahoo Japan, Line merge to form tech giant

NHK -- Mar 02

Yahoo Japan and messaging app provider Line have officially merged, creating a new tech giant.

The two entities integrated their operations on Monday under SoftBank's subsidiary, Z Holdings, which operates Yahoo Japan.

The merger has created a new group of about 23,000 employees. It handles various online services, including search, social networking, shopping and finance.

Yahoo Japan President Kawabe Kentaro and Line CEO Idezawa Takeshi announced their future business strategy at a news conference.

They revealed that they have started talks to partly merge the current digital payment services, aimed at folding Line Pay into PayPay in April of next year for users in Japan.

If all goes according to plan, it would give rise to one of the largest smartphone payment services in Japan with more than 70 million users.

They also aim to expand business in Asia, making use of Line's customer base in Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere.

Kawabe pointed out that the group is superior to four US tech giants, collectively called GAFA, in terms of variety of business activities. He expressed hope that the new group will challenge to lead the world as an AI tech company from Asia.

Mar 02 () - 延べ1億人規模の利用者を抱える巨大“IT企業”が誕生です。ヤフーの親会社『Zホールディングス』と通信アプリの『LINE』が1日、経営統合し、検索やSNSに加えて、通信販売や金融など、幅広いサービスを手掛け、2023年度に売上高2兆円を目指すことを明らかにしました。また、両社は、日本国内でスマホ決済の『LINEPay』を来年4月に『PayPay』に統合する方針で協議を開始しました。 ヤフーは、ネット通販やスマホ決済『PayPay』などを手掛けていて、利用者は約8000万人いますが、スマホサービスという面ではやや遅れがあります。一方、『LINE』の利用者は約8600万人いますが、SNSサービス以外は弱いといわれています。