SoftBank Group Corp. said it has agreed to take a majority stake in Line Corp.'s mobile unit for an undisclosed sum. The deal, to be finalized around March, will give SoftBank Corp. — the Tokyo-headquartered telecom and technology conglomerate's mobile phone subsidiary — 51 percent ...
Social media association urges member firms to ban suicide solicitation on their services
An association comprising major social media service operators Wednesday urged its member firms to ban solicitation of suicide-pact partners through their sites, following a serial murder case near Tokyo in which the suspect is alleged to have contacted Twitter users who expressed suicidal thoughts. The ...
Line Corp. has opened its first permanent U.S. store in New York that sells merchandise featuring the characters popularized by its messaging app. Located in Times Square, the 430-sq.-meter store has proven popular with tourists since its official opening Aug. 1. A ceiling-high stuffed toy bear ...
Japan's smart speaker market heats up as Line faces off against Google and Amazon
The battle for smart-speaker supremacy in Japan has begun, with major firms announcing the launches Thursday of new products armed with high-tech voice-controlled features. With the aim of taking the lead in the AI powered smart-speaker market, which many observers believe will become the next ...
The world's first indoor adventure park featuring "friends" characters created for Line Corp.'s immensely popular messaging app will open later this year in Bangkok. Line Village Bangkok says it will open a Line Village merchandise store Friday before fully opening its doors in the capital's ...
Line plans smart speaker to challenge Amazon, Google
Line Corp. said Thursday it plans to focus more on artificial intelligence, saying AI-related services will be the next big thing after the smartphone boom. "Because of the smartphone trend, Line was born and we have grown this far. But looking at five or 10 ...
Sony Corp. and Line Corp., Japan's most popular messaging service, are considering joining forces to develop devices powered by artificial intelligence. The companies are exploring opportunities around digital personal assistant technology to co-create a new communication experience, Sony said in a statement at the Mobile ...
Line Corp. posted its biggest drop yet as analysts cut ratings after fourth-quarter profit and revenue that missed estimates. The stock finished more than 10 percent lower at ¥3,755 in Tokyo on Thursday, the steepest decline since listing in July. Line's operating profit of ¥1.6 ...
Line seeks to shake up messaging business to spur growth
Line Corp. is planning to shake up its staff and business to build on the 20-plus percent share gain since the messaging company pulled off the tech world's biggest public offering of the year. CEO Takeshi Idezawa is tapping top lieutenants Jun Masuda and Joongho ...
Line returns to black with ¥5.32 billion profit in January to September period
Messaging app provider Line Corp. reported a group net profit Wednesday of ¥5.32 billion ($51 million) in the January to September period, helped by growth in users and advertising revenue. Line's consolidated operating profit came to ¥18.29 billion on sales of ¥103.24 billion, up 17.2 ...
Emoji: The evolution of emoticons
The ideograms that were once eyed with skepticism have transformed into a universally accepted part of daily communication.
With ¥130 billion war chest, Line hunts for acquisitions to jazz up content, technology
Line Corp. plans to use part of the ¥130 billion it garnered from last month's initial public offering to bankroll acquisitions of content and technology, transforming its messaging service into a one-stop shop for Asian social media users. Japan's most popular messaging service is gunning ...
