South Korea's Naver is undecided about future of LY Corp stake (updated)

LY

03/05/2024 02:24

(Adds context and background in paragraphs 2-3, comments 4-5)
       SEOUL, May 3 (Reuters) - South Korea's Naver  035420.KS 
said on Friday it will consider its stance on a potential
selldown of a stake in LY Corp  4689.T  from a mid-to-longer
term business point of view.
    Naver CEO Choi Sooyeon addressed in an earnings call on
Friday an administrative guidance by the Japanese Ministry of
Internal Affairs and Communications that called for a selldown
of Naver's equity holdings in LY Corp over a data leak last
year. 
    LY Corp is majority owned by A Holdings, a joint venture
between Japan's SoftBank  9984.T  and Naver, and operates Line,
a messaging app popular in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.  
    "The administrative guidance itself that demanded a
reduction in capital control is very unusual, but we are not
deciding whether to follow it or not - we define it as a matter
to be decided based on mid- to long-term business strategy, and
we are conducting an internal review," Choi said. 
    Naver has yet to decide on a position, Choi added. 
    

 (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
and Jacqueline Wong)
 ((joyce.lee@tr.com;))