Yahoo Japan operator and Line to delay merger planned for October

The SoftBank Corp. group company that controls Yahoo Japan Corp. and messaging app provider Line Corp. said Tuesday their merger planned for October will be delayed as antitrust screening in some countries is taking longer than expected due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Yahoo Japan's operator Z Holdings Corp. and Line's South Korean parent company Naver Corp. originally planned to conduct a tender offer for Line shares by June.

The new date for the tender offer and merger has not been set, the companies said.

Line has about 165 million users of its messaging app in Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia while more than 80 million people visit the Yahoo Japan portal site each month.