(Photo = Yonhap news)

 

[Alpha Biz= Reporter Paul Lee Japan's Softbank is said to be seeking negotiations to buy shares of Line Yahoo, the operator of Line's application, from Naver.

Kyodo News reported on the 23rd that Softbank is in the process of such negotiations.

Line Yahoo shares are held about 65% by A Holdings, a joint venture established by Naver and Softbank. Softbank and Naver each own 50% of A Holdings, an intermediate holding company of Line Yahoo. Softbank will be able to take the lead in management if it buys shares of A Holdings from Naver and increases its investment ratio.

Earlier, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs said that Yahoo's cyber security measures, which received the first administrative guidance due to the mass leak of personal information last month, are not sufficient. The second administrative guidance called for a review of capital relations with Naver and ordered the government to reinforce the contents by July 1 and submit the measures again.

Line is the most widely used messenger app in Japan. Yahoo said the server may have been attacked by a third party in November last year and 440,000 information, including Line users, may have been leaked. Further investigation later confirmed that a total of 510,000 information leaks occurred in February this year.

 

 

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