Japan’s SoftBank is planning to partner with Line Corp, a messaging app operator. Reportedly, the firm wants to unite its Internet unit Yahoo Japan with Line Corp and form a huge tech company worth $30 Billion. SoftBank’s key motive in this merger is to acquire struggling Internet firms and strengthen itself against competitors such as Rakuten.
In a statement, SoftBank proclaimed that the latest unification agreement is slated to be completed in October 2020. In this agreement, Yahoo Japan, which is recently renamed as Z Holdings Corp, will be merged with Naver Corp’s Line. By the upcoming month, Naver and SoftBank Corp are expected to have a final deal with 50:50 stakes in Z Holdings, which will be managing Line and Yahoo Japan. Reportedly, both the firms might go for a bid offer for Line’s remaining stakes. Through payment service Line Pay, Line wanted to expand its services into areas such as QR code payments. But heavy-spending partners such as SoftBank and Line’s inadequate finances made these efforts unsuccessful. Moreover, the latest deal represents the current merger trend in Japan’s technology sector. A South Korean serial entrepreneur and Founder of Naver competitor Daum Jaewoong Lee recently wrote on his Facebook page that with the background of extreme political conflicts between South Korea and Japan, the latest unification might turn out to be the most important financial collaboration within two countries in the last 10 years’ period.
On a similar note, a preliminary money-raising effort for its 2nd technology fund was recently completed by SoftBank Group. Reportedly, the Japanese firm was successful in gathering approximately $2 Billion for the 2nd Vision Fund, which is aimed at financially supporting startups. This level of the fund-raising procedure is named as a 1st close, and SoftBank is supposed to continue gathering commitments.
