Line Chat App Largest Tech IPO In History, What Does This Mean To Users And Competitors Like Facebook’s Messenger?

Tech company Line Corp has just made history with their chat app. Line has been introduced to Tokyo and New York listings and has been recognized as the largest technology initial public offering of 2016, according to CNBC.

Line Corp is owned by South Korean Internet company Naver, and they just opened up 22 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. There were also 13 million shares made available to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Just right after the IPO was launched, the company valuation had already increased 50 percent, according to Japan Times. The Wall Street stocks opened at the high of $44.49 and then closed at $26.61.

Though the massive IPO has made Line Corp into one of those tech companies that people are now going to be watching out for, analysts are still worried about the maintenance of its popularity in East and Southeast Asia.

However, Line Corp CEO Jungho Chin told CNBC that the company is now dominating the Japanese marketing, and it will just be the start of their expansion.

“Ultimately we believe that this IPO will accelerate our growth,” said Chin.

Just because of the IPO, Line has already raised about $1.3 billion just in share flotation.

Line holds 218 million active users in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Just like its massive messaging competitors, Line enables users to conduct free calls and to send SMS, photos, and videos to another Line user. Line also has a paid service for its users.

Line has made a very distinctive mark because of its funky and interactive emojis and stickers. This has made the app extremely popular amongst teenagers.

Aside from its basic communication function, Line also generates revenue from its digital stickers, advertising, and games. The app’s games have already seen 628 million downloads.

Line started operations back in 2011 when the massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. They used the app as a way to handle dismantled communication lines. Now, Line is the seventh-most used chat app in the world.

Line has a very retail-based structure. Majority of their revenue comes from the digital stickers that are extremely popular within their network. These “Stick packs” would usually cost around $2 to $3, but with the hundreds of millions of users, Line was able to stabilize their revenue model.

Shin also told CNBC that it is not the main design that people are paying for. Their users are utilizing the stickers and emojis to “enhance relationships between friends and family.”

“That is why our users open their wallet to pay for this kind of sticker.

Though Line has already opened up in the world’s biggest stock markets, Shin said the company is focusing on local expansion. However, they wanted to pursue the development of the product and create a “one stop service” for their users.

With WhatsApp, WeChat and Messenger, Line wishes to introduce taxi hailing and music streaming within the platform as well.

Though Line has already set the bar high for tech companies going public this year, they still have a big issue with China.

It was in July of 2015 when the Chinese government decided to ban Line for everyone in the country. This was a big blow to the Japanese chat app, as China is Asia’s biggest market.

Though they could not use their app in China, Line Corp still found a way to introduce its product to the Chinese market by partnering with China’s SOHO retail chain, according to OZY.

Even without the app, Line’s brand is expanded in the form of tote bags, lattes, and other related goods.

[Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images]