Line Corporation, maker of the popular messaging app Line, arrived on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Thursday morning in what turned out to be the biggest market debut of a tech company this year.
Trading under the ticker symbol “LN,” Line opened at $42. Despite suffering a slight dip, it ended the first day at $41.58, up 27 percent from its IPO price. Overall, that gives Line a market value of approximately $8 billion, CNN reports.
Updated 07-14-2016 by Saqib Shah: Added info about Line’s first day of trading on the NYSE.
The company raised $1.3 billion from selling shares on the stock market in both New York and Tokyo, a sign of solid investor confidence in the app, despite the western dominance of its rival Facebook Messenger.
Reports of an expected Line IPO first began making the rounds two years ago. In June, Line officially announced that it would seek approximately $1 billion in listings on the NYSE and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Crucially, for Line’s main product, its stock market debut announces the app’s arrival on the world stage amidst a heated battle for users with its more popular rivals Messenger, and WhatsApp, both owned by Facebook.
Despite those two competitors boasting a combined total of almost 2 billion users, Line has managed to carve out a niche in Asia. The app claims to have 218 million users, with 152 million of its total user base scattered across four countries in Asia, including Japan. Line has also successfully implemented an aggressive monetization policy, charging for its vast range of cute stickers, and games. In its recently announced first quarter earnings, Line claimed to have generated more than $300 million, a 21-percent increase over the same period in the previous year.
The competition is also fierce in its biggest region, with counterparts Viber (owned by Japanese firm Rakuten), and WeChat (owned by China’s Tencent) vying for users. Line will be hoping the funding from the IPO will help it gain a foothold internationally, opening the doors to new markets.
Alongside its emoji empire, Line has kept up with its rivals by adding a raft of new features including a ride-hailing option, online payments, bots, end-to-end encryption, and spinoff apps. As is now common with most messaging platforms, it also offers voice and video calls.
ShiftCam is adding to its range of iPhone filmmaking accessories with ProRig+, a revised version of its modular camera rig that has dedicated controls for focus, zoom, shutter, and shooting modes. The new system launches on Kickstarter with the ProControl remote, giving mobile creators a higher level of hands-on control without having to constantly tap their iPhone’s screen.
The announcement comes soon after ShiftCam introduced the original ProRig, developed with feedback from Apple. The original model is expected to ship in the coming weeks, while ProRig+ will be a more advanced remote and will be delivered to backers in February 2027. The Kickstarter campaign has also been honored with the platform’s “Projects We Love” designation.
Samsung's foldable lineup could be getting pretty crowded next year. We're already expecting successors to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and the Galaxy Z Flip 8, while fresh leaks hint that several more devices could be in the pipeline.
The expanded lineup might include a bigger fold, a potentially cheaper alternative, and even something that slides rather than folds. According to a new leak, Samsung is currently testing two different versions of an additional wide-format Galaxy Z Fold 9. That's not all, Samsung's foldable plans could feature a grand total of six models, which is kind of in line with earlier reports.
Motorola has built some of my favorite foldables and flagship phones. I had a great time with both the Razr Fold and last year's Signature. So when the company began teasing the Signature 27, I couldn't help be excited. The new model comes with Qualcomm's blazing-fast Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, and better still, it is finally getting a proper global release.
One of the reasons I was obsessed with the last-gen Signature was its amazing price tag. But it seems like that budget flagship dream might be officially dead. Portuguese retailer MegaPC has prematurely listed a 12GB RAM and 512GB storage Signature 27 in Pantone Coal Smoke for €1,594.90 (approx. $1,775).