These days, remittance and payment are made more easily by mobile phone than by cash. With a mobile phone, people can easily carry around cash without pocketing it. Each country has a service transfer and payment service to the messenger used. Messenger lines, which are mainly used in Japan, have decided to stop services used by many people due to a stake fight.
Lineyahoo announced on the 13th that it would sequentially end its “Line Pay” service in Japan, which has been in progress for the past decade. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Lineyahoo announced that it would sequentially end its smartphone payment service Line Pay in Japan by April 30 next year. However, the service will continue in Taiwan and Thailand.
Along with Naver, Line Pay will be integrated into a simple payment service called “Pay” operated by Japan’s Softbank, a co-major shareholder of LineYahoo. LineYahoo explained in a press release, “We plan to provide the ability to move LinePay balance to Pay balance for users who want to do so in the future.”
Some interpret this as a “clearing Naver” after the “Lineyahoo incident,” in which the Japanese government effectively pressured Naver to sell its stake in the wake of the leak of Lineyahoo’s personal information.
Line Pay started its service in Japan in December 2014 with the payment function of Line application. As of the end of May this year, the number of registered people exceeded 44 million.
In March, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued administrative guidance calling for improvement of the management system, including a “review of Naver-capital relations,” pointing out that cybersecurity measures were insufficient due to excessive dependence on Naver, which entrusted system work.
After two rounds of administrative guidance, SoftBank, along with Naver, is trying to buy shares of Lineyahu’s interim holding company A Holdings from Naver, which it holds 50-50 with Naver.
LineYahoo also excluded Shin Joong-ho, chief product officer (CPO), the only Korean and de facto representative of Naver at the board meeting last month.
Will the equity fight benefit a lot? Won’t people leave the service feeling tired? The company should think carefully and ensure that it does not harm people.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
