LINE AND YAHOO JAPAN TO MERGE

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South Korean Internet portal Naver's Japanese subsidiary, Line, and Yahoo Japan have agreed to merge. Through the merger, the two leading tech firms of Korea and Japan have declared to become the world's best in artificial intelligence.

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Online messaging app, Line has over 80 million users. Yahoo Japan has average monthly users of over 60 million. The two companies agreed to merge by October 2020. Naver owns over a 70% stake in Line Corporation while SoftBank is the major shareholder of Z Holdings Corporation which operates Yahoo Japan. Two leading Internet firms of Korea and Japan are joining forces.

[Soundbite] KENTARO KAWABE(CEO, YAHOO JAPAN) : "We want to create synergy through a newly integrated group."

If the deal is successful, it will create a new digital platform with 120 million users that provides an array of services from search engine, messaging to finance. Through the merger, Line and Yahoo Japan vowed to compete against global tech giants like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The two firms claim AI will be at the heart of their venture.

[Soundbite] TAKESHI IDEZAWA(CEO, LINE CORP.) : "Our goal is to become a world class AI tech firm that provides the best user experience and can help resolve global issues."

But first, some hurdles stand in the way. Japan's Fair Trade Commission needs to approve the deal and there is also the issue of private information protection.