Messaging app Line rockets in Tokyo debut
Tokyo, July 15: Messaging app Line rocketed in its Tokyo trading debut Friday after an eye- popping jump in New York, as investors cheered the year’s biggest technology share sale.
The new listing burst out of the blocks at the start of its first trading day, which was delayed as buy orders swamped sell orders, rising more than 50 pe rcent immediately. By the close the firm was up 32 per cent at 4,345 yen ($ 41), valuing it at around $ 8.6 billion.
The surge followed Japanbased Line new shares roaring to life in New York, where they kicked off trading Thursday after the $ 1.3 billion IPO.
The sizzling dual- listing suggested investors are betting Line can hold its own in a field crowded with mobile messaging services such as Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Whatsapp. But the company, which grew out of Japan’s 2011 quake- tsunami disaster, could face challenges boosting its popularity beyond Asia and some Spanish language markets, analysts said.
“Investors are giving Line high marks for its growth potential and the IPO should boost its name recognition,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo. “But Line already has a big number of users and I think it will be tough for them to increase that. What investors are focused on now is what Line will do with that large number of users to expand its growth through advertising revenue, for example.”
Line, which is owned by South Korea’s Naver Corp., debuted in New York where its stock ended up 27 per cent. Line sold 35 million sha- res in all, about two thirds in the US and said it would exercise an option to sell another five million, underscoring strong demand. — AFP