[단독] Naver Haejin Lee, Line-Japan Softbank Joint Venture,’Chairman of the Board’ Concessions

Naver’s LINE with massive users and Yahoo Japan’s new holding company names have been confirmed as’A Holdings’.

Softbank, the major shareholder of Yahoo Japan, held an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting on the 24th and announced the above. The company name will be changed on the 28th, and the new management integration system will be operational on the 1st of next month.

Lee Hae-jin, Naver Global Investment Manager (GIO, photo) and Miyauchi Ken, CEO of Softbank, will co-represent.

However, GIO Lee Hae-jin was supposed to be the chairman of the board of directors of A Holdings, but Ken Miyauchi was appointed for the announcement. It is an evaluation that Naver tried to show the will of mutual cooperation by presenting the position of the first chairman to Softbank.

Softbank announced on the day that “both companies will support the business growth of the new Z Holdings group through A Holdings,” and “we will increase synergy effects by utilizing their respective strengths in the business area.” At the same time, he said, “Softbank and Naver will try to make a globally successful company.”

According to the announcement on the day, A Holdings”A’ is known to have the meaning of’AtoZ’,’AI (artificial intelligence)’ and’Asia (Asia)’.

Earlier, Line, a subsidiary of Naver, Korea’s largest internet company, received attention in November 2019 when it announced that it would pursue management integration with Z Holdings owned by Softbank, which runs Yahoo Japan. Line, referred to as the Japanese’national messenger’, has over 80 million users. At that time, Naver and Softbank each invested 50% of each to establish a new joint venture, and then agreed to make the corporation the largest shareholder of Z Holdings.

[고보현 기자]
[ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]