Press Releases 2021

Notice of Changes in Subsidiaries (Sub-Subsidiaries)

February 26, 2021
SoftBank Corp.

SoftBank Corp. (hereinafter, “SoftBank”) hereby announces that LINE Corporation (hereinafter, “LINE”)*1, LINE Pay Corporation, LINE Financial Corporation and LINE Financial Asia Corporation Limited have become subsidiaries (sub-subsidiaries) of SoftBank as of today.

[Note]
  1. *1
    LINE will change its company name to A Holdings Corporation as of February 28, 2021.

1. Reason and method for the change

As announced by SoftBank and NAVER Corporation (hereinafter, “NAVER”) in the “Notice Concerning Entry into a Definitive Agreement Relating to the Business Integration of Z Holdings Corporation (Securities Code: 4689) and LINE Corporation (Securities Code: 3938)” dated December 23, 2019, LINE, as the surviving corporation, implemented as of today an absorption-type merger (hereinafter, the “Absorption-type Merger”) with Shiodome Z Holdings GK, a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank, as the absorbed corporation, as part of the business integration between Z Holdings Corporation, a subsidiary of SoftBank (hereinafter, “ZHD”) and LINE (hereinafter, the “Business Integration”) pursuant to a business integration agreement that SoftBank, NAVER, ZHD and LINE entered into as of December 23, 2019.
Through a series of transactions including the Absorption-type Merger, LINE as well as LINE Pay Corporation, LINE Financial Corporation and LINE Financial Asia Corporation Limited, all of which are wholly owned subsidiaries of LINE, have become subsidiaries (sub-subsidiaries) of SoftBank as of today*2*3.

[Notes]
  1. *2
    Descriptions regarding LINE's subsidiaries other than LINE Pay Corporation, LINE Financial Corporation and LINE Financial Asia Corporation Limited are omitted in this notice as the changes in them fall under the minor change criteria under the timely disclosure rules.
  2. *3
    LINE will transfer its entire business (excluding the ZHD shares, the contractual status pursuant to the agreements executed by LINE in relation to the Business Integration, and the rights and obligations set out in the absorption-type demerger agreement) to its wholly owned subsidiary, LINE Demerger Preparatory Company, in an absorption-type demerger (hereinafter, the “Corporate Demerger”) as of February 28, 2021. For accounting purposes, the acquisition date will be February 28, 2021, the date when the Corporate Demerger will become effective, as the Absorption-type Merger and the Corporate Demerger are deemed to be a series of transactions regarding the Business Integration.

2. Outline of the subsidiaries (sub-subsidiaries)

(ⅰ) LINE Corporation

(1) Name LINE Corporation
(2) Address 4-1-6 Shinjuku Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
(3) Name and title of representative Takeshi Idezawa, Representative Director and President
(4) Nature of business Advertising service based on the mobile messenger application “LINE”, core businesses including the sales of stickers and game services, and strategic businesses including Fintech, AI, and commerce services
(5) Share Capital JPY 101,788 million (as of December 31, 2020)
(6) Founded September 4, 2000
(7) Major shareholders and shareholding ratios SoftBank Corp.
NAVER Corporation
NAVER J.Hub Corporation		 50.00%
42.25%
7.75%
(8) Relationships with SoftBank Capital relationship SoftBank owns 50.00% of the shares in LINE.
Personnel relationship Not applicable
Business relationship There are business relationships with respect to advertising services, etc.
(9) Results of operation and financial position over the past 3 years (Consolidated, IFRS)
Fiscal year Fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 Fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 Fiscal year ended December 31, 2019
Total capital JPY 189,977 million JPY 208,514 million JPY 174,663 million
Total assets JPY 303,439 million JPY 486,587 million JPY 541,352 million
Equity attributable to owners of parent per share JPY 779.30 JPY 833.87 JPY 659.96
Revenues JPY 167,147 million JPY 207,182 million JPY 227,485 million
Operating income or loss JPY 25,078 million JPY 16,110 million JPY -38,997 million
Income or loss attributable to owners of the parent company JPY 8,078 million JPY -3,718 million JPY -46,888 million
Earnings per share: basic profit or loss for the period JPY 36.56 JPY -15.62 JPY -196.07
Dividends per share - - -

(ⅱ) LINE Pay Corporation

(1) Name LINE Pay Corporation
(2) Address 1-1-1 Nishi Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku Tokyo
(3) Name and title of representative Hisahiro Chofuku, Representative Director and President
(4) Nature of business Issuance, sales, and management of prepaid payment instruments, provision of electronic payment systems, and funds transfer business.
Operation of services related to “LINE Kakeibo”, and “LINE Points”, and more.
(5) Share Capital JPY 21,100 million (as of February 26, 2021)
(6) Founded May 9, 2014
(7) Major shareholders and shareholding ratios LINE Corporation 100.00%
(8) Relationships with SoftBank Capital relationship SoftBank owns 50.00% of the shares in LINE, the parent company of LINE Pay Corporation.
Personnel relationship Not applicable
Business relationship Not applicable
(9) Results of operation and financial position over the past 3 years (Standalone, Japanese GAAP)
Fiscal year Fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 Fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 Fiscal year ended December 31, 2019
Total capital JPY 1,936 million JPY -2,168 million JPY 12,010 million
Total assets JPY 12,326 million JPY 15,006 million JPY 42,549 million
Equity attributable to owners of parent per share JPY 4,072.73 JPY -2,849.52 JPY 2,788.59
Net sales JPY 213 million JPY 4,453 million JPY 6,288 million
Operating income or loss JPY -2,742 million JPY -5,333 million JPY -19,179 million
Income or loss attributable to owners of the parent company JPY -2,744 million JPY -5,404 million JPY -20,822 million
Earnings per share: basic profit or loss for the period JPY -5,772.20 JPY -7,103.65 JPY -7,762.59
Dividends per share - - -

(ⅲ) LINE Financial Corporation

(1) Name LINE Financial Corporation
(2) Address 1-1-1 Nishi Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku Tokyo
(3) Name and title of representative Tetsuhiko Saito, Representative Director and CEO
(4) Nature of business Provision of financial services
(5) Share Capital JPY 45,650 million (as of February 26, 2021)
(6) Founded January 10, 2018
(7) Major shareholders and shareholding ratios LINE Corporation 100.00%
(8) Relationships with SoftBank Capital relationship SoftBank owns 50.00% of the shares in LINE, the parent company of LINE Financial Corporation.
Personnel relationship Not applicable
Business relationship Not applicable
(9) Results of operation and financial position over the past 3 years (Standalone, Japanese GAAP)
Fiscal year First Fiscal Year:
Fiscal year from January 10, 2018 until May 31, 2018		 Second Fiscal Year:
Fiscal year from June 1, 2018 until March 31, 2019		 Third Fiscal Year:
Fiscal year from April 1, 2019 until March 31, 2020
Sales - JPY 127 million JPY 405 million
Operating income or loss JPY -188 million JPY -1,648 million JPY -3,010 million
Ordinary income or loss JPY -260 million JPY -1,754 million JPY -3,280 million
Net income or loss JPY -261 million JPY -1,755 million JPY -4,277 million
Net income or loss per share JPY -183.16 JPY -447.09 JPY -599.85
Total assets JPY 20,005 million JPY 58,491 million JPY 72,695 million
Net assets JPY 19,739 million JPY 57,051 million JPY 72,238 million
Net assets per share JPY 9,869.73 JPY 9,669.69 JPY 9,261.26
Dividends per share - - -

(ⅳ) LINE Financial Asia Corporation Limited

(1) Name LINE Financial Asia Corporation Limited
(2) Address Units 04-05, 26/F, Railway Plaza, 39 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
(3) Name and title of representative HWANG In Joon, Director
(4) Nature of business Financial business strategy
(5) Share Capital JPY 39,523 million (as of February 26, 2021)*4
(6) Founded September 4, 2018
(7) Major shareholders and shareholding ratios LINE Financial Plus Corporation 100.00%
(8) Relationships with SoftBank Capital relationship SoftBank owns 50.00% of the shares in LINE, the parent company of LINE Financial Asia Corporation Limited.
Personnel relationship Not applicable
Business relationship Not applicable
(9) Results of operation and financial position over the past 3 years (Standalone, IFRS)
Fiscal year First Fiscal Year:
Fiscal year from September 4, 2018 until December 31, 2019
Sales -
Operating income or loss JPY -461 million
Net income or loss JPY -1,048 million
Net income or loss per share JPY -431.63
Total assets JPY 39,456 million
Net assets JPY 39,089 million
Dividends per share -
[Note]
  1. *4
    The exchange rate as of February 25, 2021 (1 USD = JPY 105.90480) has been used for the conversion of Share Capital from USD to JPY.

3. Date of change

February 26, 2021

4. Future Outlook

There have been no changes on SoftBank's consolidated financial result forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021 from those announced in “Consolidated Financial Report For the Nine Months Ended December 31, 2020 (IFRS)” dated February 4, 2021.

(For reference) SoftBank's consolidated financial result forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021 (as announced on February 4, 2021) and consolidated financial result for the previous fiscal year

  Revenue Operating income Net income attributable to owners of the Company
Financial result forecasts (fiscal year ending March 31, 2021) JPY 5,100,000 million JPY 970,000 million JPY 490,000 million
Financial result (fiscal year ended March 31, 2020) JPY 4,861,247 million JPY 911,725 million JPY 473,135 million