LINE revenues:

LINE announced quarterly revenues on their website, the revenue data are redrawn below, with approximate US$ amounts shown as well.

Extrapolating assuming continued linear growth, we can estimate expected annual LINE revenues of YEN 70 billion (US$ 700 million) for the full year 2014.

Yesterday I was interviewed by Wall Street Journal about future prospects for SONY, and we discussed SONY‘s need for new “killer” products. Considering Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsUp, we thought SONY would need a “killer application” such as LINE. However, since SONY‘s current market cap with US$ 18 billion is of similar size as WhatsApp’s acquisition value, and presumably LINE’s value will be in a similar range. Thus purely theoretically, considering the growth rates of both companies, it would be more appropriate for LINE to acquire SONY than the other way round. Purely theoretically of course.

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