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LY Corporation

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LY Corporation
Native name
LINEヤフー株式会社
Rain Yahū Kabushiki-gaisha
Company typePublic
TYO: 4689
Predecessor
FoundedOctober 1, 2023; 14 months ago (2023-10-01)
Headquarters1–3, Kioichō,
Chiyoda, Tokyo
,
Japan
Key people
  • Kentarō Kawabe (chairman)
  • Takeshi Idezawa (CEO)
  • Shin Jungho (GCPO)
Revenue1,672,377,000,000 yen (2023) Edit this on Wikidata
OwnerA Holdings (63.6%) (Naver Corporation and Softbank Group)
Websitewww.lycorp.co.jp/en/ Edit this at Wikidata

LY Corporation (LINEヤフー株式会社, Rain Yafū Kabushiki-gaisha, lit. 'Line Yahoo Corporation'), trading as LYC,[1] is a Japanese internet company owned by A Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBank Group of Japan, and Naver Corporation of South Korea,[2] founded in 2023 by the merger of Z Holdings, and four subsidiaries including Line Corporation and Yahoo! Japan.

History

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In March 2021, Z Holdings, which owns Yahoo! Japan, and Line Corporation merged their businesses. The companies aimed to reduce costs by unifying overlapping services such as QR code payment, and increase traffic between the approximately 200 services they offer, focusing on the three businesses of search, messaging apps, and advertising.[3][4] They also announced plans to link the two companies' IDs within the group by the end of fiscal 2022.[5]

However, it was revealed shortly after the merger that Line's personal information was accessible from China without adequate explanation to users. The actual work of ID linking was delayed as the group reviewed its data management system, and the outlook became uncertain.[5]

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, ZHD's consolidated results showed that its main advertising business saw revenue decline by 1.2% from the previous year. Domestic e-commerce, which ZHD had been aiming to become the domestic leader in terms of sales, also saw growth slow to 0.9%. As a result, ZHD's results were sluggish, and ZHD President Kentaro Kawabe said, "ZHD's services are losing their competitive edge against rivals, and we have a strong sense of crisis."[6]

In August 2022, ZHD announced plans to link the user IDs of Line, Yahoo! Japan, and PayPay in 2023 or later to strengthen mutual traffic.[5]

In February 2023, ZHD announced plans to merge the three companies, ZHD, Yahoo! Japan, and Line Corporation, under its umbrella by the end of fiscal 2023. Even after the business integration, ZHD and Line Corporation continued to exist as separate companies and services, but ZHD President Kentaro Kawabe said, "It worked for the transitional period, but in order to promote further integration, we will unify and accelerate decision-making."[7][8] On April 28, it was announced that the new company would be named Line Yahoo (LY Corporation in English). The CEO of the new company will be Takeshi Idezawa, the CEO of ZHD, who said, "The business environment is still challenging, but we will fundamentally streamline our business through the merger."[9]

In July 2023, ZHD announced that it would merge the domestic financial businesses of Line Corporation and ZHD. The two businesses, Line Securities and Line Credit, which handles personal loans, were consolidated into Z Financial, a financial intermediate holding company in the group that owns PayPay Bank and PayPay Securities.[10]

In March 2023, Yahoo!, Line, and PayPay launched a joint mileage service called LYP Mileage. When you purchase items at participating stores and earn miles, you will receive PayPay points at a certain redemption rate. Yahoo! President Takashi Ozawa said, "This is a long-cherished plan that has finally come to fruition."[6]

On October 1, 2023, ZHD, its subsidiaries Line Corporation, Yahoo! Japan, Z Entertainment, and Z Data merged to form LY Corporation.[11]

Security

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520,000 records of personal data of LINE users were leaked in October of 2023.[12][13] Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued administrative guidance to LY Corporation twice on April 16, 2024. LY Corporation is required to submit another report by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications before July 1, 2024.[14][15][16] In March 2024, the Japanese government ordered Line and Naver to separate their systems because of the data leak. [17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "LY Corporation Begins Linkage of LINE and Yahoo! JAPAN Accounts｜LY Corporation". LY Corporation. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  2. ^ "Stock information | Share-Related Information | Investor Relations | LY Corporation". www.lycorp.co.jp. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  3. ^ "ヤフーとＬＩＮＥ、経営統合　巨大ＩＴに対抗、アジア展開加速へ". The Asahi Shimbun. March 1, 2021. p. 8.
  4. ^ NEWS, KYODO. "Yahoo Japan operator, Line merge to take on foreign tech giants". Kyodo News+. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  5. ^ a b c "ＬＩＮＥとヤフー・ＰａｙＰａｙ、来年以降にＩＤ連携へ". The Asahi Shimbun. August 4, 2022. p. 9.
  6. ^ a b "ヤフー・LINE・PayPay「共通マイル」開始、ID連携課題". Nikkei Breaking News Archive. March 11, 2023.
  7. ^ "ＺＨＤ・ヤフー・ＬＩＮＥ、合併へ". The Asahi Shimbun. February 3, 2023. p. 7.
  8. ^ "Japan's Z Holdings, Yahoo and Line announce merger". Nikkei Asia. Archived from the original on 2023-02-02. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  9. ^ "ヤフー・ＬＩＮＥ：新会社「ＬＩＮＥヤフー」". Mainichi Shimbun. April 29, 2023. p. 7.
  10. ^ "ZHDとLINE、国内金融事業を統合　重複分野を再編". The Nikkei. July 12, 2023. p. 13.
  11. ^ 株式会社インプレス (2023-10-01). "「LINEヤフー」がスタート 「ライフプラットフォーム」を創る". Impress Watch (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2023-10-01. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  12. ^ "Line operator says some 440,000 items of personal data leaked". The Japan Times. 2023-11-27. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  13. ^ Sharwood, Simon (2024-03-06). "Japan orders LINE and NAVER to disentangle their tech". The Register. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  14. ^ "Line Operator Gets Administrative Guidance Again". 2024-04-17.
  15. ^ "Line Operator Gets Administrative Guidance Again". 2024-04-16.
  16. ^ "Japanese government rejects Yahoo! infosec improvement plan". 2024-04-17.
  17. ^ "Japan orders local giants LINE and NAVER to disentangle their tech stacks".
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