Yahoo Japan And Line Talk Merger, Shares Surge

Yahoo! Japan, which changed its name to Z Holdings Corporation YAHOY last month, and Line Corporation LN saw their shares surge on Wednesday amidst news of merger talks.

What Happened

Yahoo! Japan, a leading internet services company in Japan and its largest shareholder SoftBank Group Corporation SFTBY, both confirmed that they are discussing a possible merger with the messaging and payments app Line, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The agreement that might happen by the end of this month, according to Reuters, will mean Line merging with Yahoo! Japan under the Z Holdings name. The two companies have a combined stock value of more than $30 billion, as of today.

Z Holdings would, in turn, be controlled in a 50/50 venture by SoftBank and Line’s South Korea-based parent company Naver Corporation NHNCF, people close to the matter told Reuters.

Price Action

Yahoo! Japan’s shares traded 9.22% higher at $7.70 as of press time at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. 

Its shares were up 9.22% in OTC trading at $7.70 at Wednesday’s close.

Softbank traded 0.54% up at $39.57 in Tokyo at lunch and closed 1.85% higher at $19.80 on Wednesday in the OTC market.

Line’s shares traded 26.61% higher at $51.63 on the New York Stock Exchange at the close on Wednesday.

Naver’s shares were up 10.13% at $148.58 at the Korea Exchange as of press time.