Nowadays, instant messaging applications are popular not only among mobile users, but also among investors. In the past few weeks, Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten announced it was buying Viber for $900 million.
Soon after, Facebook announced it was buying WhatsApp in a massive deal worth $19 billion in cash and shares. With more than 450 million monthly users, WhatsApp was one of the largest messaging apps available, and made money by charging users a subscription fee of $1 per year.
With roughly 340 million users, Line could become the next acquisition target in the world of messaging apps. The app, launched in Japan in 2011, has experienced amazing growth, reaching 100 million users within 18 months, and 200 million users only six months later.
As the larges social network in Japan, Line could be a great asset for Japanese telecom giant Softbank . Accoding to Bloomberg, Softbank could be seeking to buy a stake in the promising app, which may be valued at as much as $14.9 billion, according to estimates of BNP Paribas. How did Line become so popular and valuable? The answer: Games and Stickers.
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