Line, the popular messaging app launched in the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2010, is set for an initial public offering as early as this year after shelving plans for a listing last year, a report said yesterday.
The leading Nikkei business daily reported that the company has applied to trade its shares in Tokyo — and might launch a separate New York listing — in a sale that could value it at more than US$8 billion.
A Line spokeswoman said the company would not comment on the Nikkei report, which did not cite sources.
APPLICATION
Line applied in the middle of last year for a share sale in Japan and said it was eyeing a US listing as well, but it pulled back in September, saying it needed to focus on growth first. Some reports said the sale was canceled due to disagreements with its parent company, South Korean firm Naver Corp, over details of the listing.
Line, which claims more than 400 million registered members in Japan and other parts of Asia, lets users make free calls, send instant messages and post photographs or short videos. It combines attributes from Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp.
It reported sales of ￥86.3 billion (US$722 million) in its latest fiscal year.
POPULARITY
Best known for letting users send each other cute cartoon “stickers,” Line is hugely popular in Japan, particularly among teenagers.
About 88 percent of Japanese smartphone owners use messaging apps such as Line, according to a survey by the Communications and Information Network Association of Japan.
Its messaging service was launched in 2011 by the Japanese unit of South Korean Internet service provider Naver Corp after the earthquake-tsunami tragedy damaged telecoms infrastructure nationwide, forcing millions of people in Japan to resort to online resources to stay in touch with friends and family.
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