SoftBank "No Agreement Reached on Capital Relationship with Naver... Discussions Will Continue"

"Hard to specify exact timing of agreement"
"Will do best thinking about the future"

SoftBank announced on the 20th that it has not yet reached an agreement with Naver regarding the review of the capital relationship of its subsidiary Line Yahoo and will continue discussions.

Junichi Miyakawa, CEO of SoftBank, responded to a question about the current status of Line Yahoo's capital relationship at the regular shareholders' meeting held that day, saying, "We are continuing discussions with Naver from the perspectives of security governance and business strategy," and added, "Although we have not reached an agreement, we will do our best with the future in mind."

He also emphasized, "Since there are multiple parties involved, we cannot specify an exact date when an agreement will be reached, but we will continue to discuss this issue."

Naver and SoftBank each hold a 50% stake in A Holdings, the largest shareholder of Line Yahoo. Last year, it was announced that there was a possibility of leakage of about 510,000 personal information records from Line Yahoo, and subsequently, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications demanded countermeasures through two administrative guidance sessions in March and April. They also requested a review of the capital relationship of Line Yahoo, which sparked controversy. In response, Naver stated that it is negotiating with all possibilities open, including the sale of shares.

Line Yahoo is accelerating its disconnection from Naver. Earlier on the 18th of this month, Takeshi Idezawa, CEO of Line Yahoo, stated at the regular shareholders' meeting, "We will complete the separation work of employee systems and authentication, which were entrusted to Naver Cloud, within this year." The original plan was to separate the systems from Naver by 2026, but this has been expedited.

Line Yahoo also passed a proposal to exclude Shin Jungho, Chief Product Officer (CPO) from Naver, who is called the "Father of Line," from the board of directors. The board composition was changed from four inside directors and three outside directors to two inside directors and four outside directors. As a result, the board is now entirely composed of Japanese members.