TOKYO — Popular chat app Line will expand in Asia by tailoring the platform to the demands of each market, the joint chief executives of the newly merged parent company told Nikkei in an interview Tuesday, making local hires and acquisitions in order to achieve this.
Z Holdings, the SoftBank Group unit that operates Yahoo Japan, completed its consolidation with Line on Monday, announcing plans to invest 500 billion yen ($4.7 billion) over five years to upgrade online services.
“The merger gave rise to investment capacity,” said Takeshi Idezawa, a co-CEO of Z Holdings who had served as Line’s president. “We are able to take on challenges that exceed our previous approach.”
Line will position the Thailand and Taiwan units as the beachheads of overseas expansion. The platform in those areas already offers a wide range of services, such as e-commerce, payment settlement, home deliveries…
