Shareholders OK SoftBank's Yahoo Japan, messaging app Line merger english.kyodonews.net

KYODO NEWS - 41 minutes ago - 14:36 | All, JapanA SoftBank Corp. subsidiary operating Yahoo Japan online services gained shareholders' approval Wednesday on its merger with messaging app provider Line Corp. aimed at creating Japan's largest online service company by October to better compete with U.S. and Chinese tech giants.
Z Holdings, which operates Yahoo Japan Corp.'s search engine and e-commerce services, and Line are set to complete merger procedures through a stock swap.
Z Holdings, a surviving entity, will remain listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and make Line and Yahoo Japan its wholly owned subsidiaries.
Yahoo Japan and Line have combined revenue of about 1.16 trillion yen ($11 billion), surpassing the 1.10 trillion yen of leading Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc.
Among overseas IT giants, U.S. social network service operator Facebook Inc. boasts 2.4 billion users and China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. has over 1 billion users.