Line IPO rockets, debuts at valuation of over $9b

Wall Street welcomes Whatsapp rival: the New York Stock Exchange shown decorated ready for the Line IPO. Photo credit: NYSE.

Line, the cutesy messaging up with over 200 million active users around the world, just had its long-awaited IPO debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

Line hit the markets at US$42 per share, way up on the US$32.80 decided upon earlier in the week. That means Line is valued at over US$9 billion.

The dual listing hits Japan tomorrow.

The app, a rival to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Viber, is run from Tokyo, Japan, but is a spin-off from Korean web giant Naver. This is a dual listing, with 22 million shares for the US market and 13 million shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It debuts in Japan tomorrow.

The stock continued to rise in the opening hour of trading in New York. At the time of publishing, it’s at US$42.94 per share.

The @line_global Opening Bell calls for a celebration (NYSE: $LN) pic.twitter.com/gTDQgujTMY

— NYSE (@NYSE) July 14, 2016

The chat app made just over US$1 billion in revenue (mostly from games and digital stickers) last year, but is facing multiple challenges ahead – most notably the fact that its growth has stagnated.

Update at close of trading: Line ended down slightly at the close of New York trading, valued at US$8.7 billion.