Line is a privately owned company headquartered in Japan, with LY Corporation as its parent company. Established in 2000, it employs approximately 4,100 individuals, specializing in software development. The company operates a communications platform, primarily serving as a messenger service in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. Beyond its core functionality of free instant messaging and VoIP calls, the platform integrates social media, mobile payments via LINE Pay, news aggregation through LINE TODAY, and specialized services such as LINE Doctor and LINE Music. As of 2026, LINE functions as a central lifestyle ecosystem for over 200 million monthly active users, leveraging its character IP (LINE FRIENDS) and an extensive API for businesses to provide an experience that bridges personal communication and daily transactions.
On April 30, 2026, LY Corporation detailed its operational structure, noting its establishment in 2023 to unite Japan’s leading messaging platform LINE and internet portal Yahoo! JAPAN with over 100 businesses and 20,000 employees. Concurrently, the company announced it unified support across its extensive portfolio of services, aiming to improve alignment among service teams that previously struggled with disconnected systems. Earlier, on April 19, 2026, LY Corporation presented its new AI agent service, "Agent i," with presentations from CPO Jungho Shin and Executive Corporate Officer Mitsunobu Ashizawa. This follows the April 19, 2026, announcement that Chairperson and Representative Director Kentaro Kawabe will retire from LY Corporation (TSE:4689) after the shareholder meeting on June 19, 2026, as the board also discusses broader director changes.
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