Notice Concerning the Commencement
of the Joint Tender Offer for Shares of LINE Corporation
(Securities Code: 3938)

[Note]

1. *
   As it was informed by the Target Company that an error regarding the number of share options issued by the Target Company (the number of 25th Series Share Options as of June 30, 2020 was 47,855, not 47,843) was found, the relevant numbers or amounts (including the number of Share Certificates to be purchased and the purchase price) have been corrected as of August 11, 2020.)

As announced in the “Notice Concerning the Planned Commencement of the Joint Tender Offer for Shares of LINE Corporation (Securities Code: 3938)” dated December 23, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Press Release for the Planned Commencement of the Joint Tender Offer”), SoftBank Corp. (hereinafter, “SoftBank”), NAVER Corporation (hereinafter, “NAVER”), Z Holdings Corporation (Securities Code: 4689, listed on the First Section of Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. (hereinafter, “TSE”)), a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank (hereinafter “ZHD”), and LINE Corporation (Securities Code: 3938, listed on the First Section of TSE), a consolidated subsidiary of NAVER (hereinafter, the “Target Company”), have entered into a business integration agreement, a definitive agreement regarding the business integration of ZHD and its subsidiaries and the Target Company and its subsidiaries (hereinafter, the “Business Integration”) among the four companies, as of December 23, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Definitive Business Integration Agreement.” For the details of the Definitive Business Integration Agreement, please refer to “① The Definitive Business Integration Agreement and the Transaction Agreement” in “(3) Important Agreements Concerning the Tender Offer” in “1 Purpose of Purchase” below.), and have decided, respectively, that SoftBank and NAVER or its wholly-owned subsidiary will jointly implement the Japan and the United States (hereinafter, the “U.S.”) Tender Offers for acquiring all of the Target Company Share Certificates (defined below) (excluding the NAVER-owned Target Company Share Certificates (defined in “(1) Overview of the Tender Offer” in “1 Purpose of Purchase” below) and the treasury shares owned by the Target Company), as part of a series of transactions to realize the Business Integration, subject to the Conditions Precedent (defined in “(1) Overview of the Tender Offer” in “1 Purpose of Purchase” below) being satisfied.

As SoftBank and NAVER J. Hub Corporation, NAVER’s wholly-owned subsidiary (hereinafter “NAVER J.Hub”; and NAVER and NAVER J. Hub are collectively referred to as the “NAVER Parties”; and SoftBank and NAVER J. Hub are collectively referred to the “Tender Offerors”) confirmed today, given that the procedures and measures necessary under the competition laws of the U.S., Taiwan and South Korea have been completed and the procedures and measures necessary under the competition laws of Japan are expected to be completed by the date immediately before the expiration date of the purchase period of the Tender Offer (hereinafter, the “Tender Offer Period”), that all of the Conditions Precedent have been completed and satisfied, except for the condition to commencement of the Japan and U.S. Tender Offers that the Clearance Procedures (defined in “(1) Overview of the Tender Offer” in “1 Purpose of Purchase” below) which are necessary for the implementation of the Delisting Procedures (as defined in “③ Process and Reasons for the Decision that led to the Target Company’s Approval of the Tender Offer” in “(2) Background, Purpose and Decision-making Process of the Decision to Implement the Tender Offer, and the Management Policy after the Tender Offer” below) have been completed, and that such condition to commencement of the Japan and U.S. Tender Offers has been waived by all the parties to the Definitive Business Integration Agreement, the Tender Offerors have decided today to commence tender offers in Japan and the U.S. as detailed below.

1. ①
   A tender offer to be implemented in Japan pursuant to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (Act No. 25 of 1948, as amended from time to time, hereinafter, the “Act”) for the purpose of acquiring all of the outstanding shares of (ⅰ) common shares (hereinafter, the “Target Company Shares”), (ⅱ) the Share Options, (ⅲ) the Convertible Bonds, and (ⅳ) the ADSs^*1(the Share Options, the Convertible Bonds, the names of each share option and each convertible bond, and the ADSs are defined in “(3) Price of Purchase” in “2. Outline of Purchase” below; hereinafter, the Target Company Shares, the Share Options, the Convertible Bonds and the ADSs are referred to as the “Target Company Share Certificates”) (excluding the NAVER-owned Target Company Share Certificates and the treasury shares owned by the Target Company) (hereinafter, the “Tender Offer”).

   [Note]

   1. *1
      The Tender Offer aims to acquire all of the Target Company Share Certificates. As the Tender Offerors must solicit offers to sell all of the Share Certificates issued by the Target Company pursuant to Article 27-2, paragraph (5) of the Act and Article 8, paragraph (5), item (ⅲ) of the Order for Enforcement of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan (Cabinet Order No. 321 of 1965, as amended from time to time, hereinafter, the “Order”), the Tender Offerors included the ADS in the class of share certificates subject to the Tender Offer. However, with respect to the ADSs, which are listed securities in the U.S., it has become clear that it is difficult for the Tender Offerors, which are incorporated in Japan, to acquire the ADSs in the Tender Offer, which will be conducted outside of the U.S., given that there are no operators such as financial instruments business operators to act as tender offer agents to acquire the ADSs in the Tender Offer. Therefore, the Tender Offerors will accept only tenders of the Target Company Share Certificates other than the ADSs, and not tenders of the ADSs in the Tender Offer. In addition, although the U.S. Tender Offer (defined below) will accept tendering of the ADSs, ADS holders who want to tender not in the U.S. Tender Offer but in the Tender Offer need to convert their ADSs into Target Company Shares (please refer also to “(11) Tender Offer Agent” in “2 Outline of Purchase” below).

1. ②
   A tender offer to be implemented in the U.S. pursuant to the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (as amended from time to time, the “U.S. Securities Exchange Act”) for the purpose of acquiring (ⅰ) the Target Company Shares owned by residents of the United States (the residents of the U.S. who own the Target Company Shares are hereinafter referred to as the “U.S. Shareholders”) and (ⅱ) all of the ADSs (hereinafter, the “U.S. Tender Offer”; and the Tender Offer and the U.S. Tender Offer are collectively referred to as the “Japan and U.S. Tender Offers”)^*2.

   [Note]

   1. *2
      The terms and conditions of the U.S. Tender Offer are substantially the same as those of the Tender Offer to the extent possible in light of the requirements under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act and the tender offer practices in the U.S. For the details, please refer to “① U.S. Tender Offer” in “(2) Other Information Necessary for Investors to Determine Whether to Tender in Purchase” in “4. Other Information” below.

The purchase price for the Tender Offer is expected to be approximately JPY 372 billion, and each Tender Offeror will purchase 50% of the tendered Target Company Share Certificates.

Please refer to here for more details.

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in Article 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Article 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results might be materially different from the express or implied predictions, including the “forward-looking statements” contained herein due to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, or any other factors. Neither the Tender Offerors, the Target Company, nor their respective affiliates assure that such express or implied predictions, including the “forward-looking statements” contained herein, will be achieved. The “forward-looking statements” contained in this press release have been prepared based on the information possessed by the Tender Offerors and the Target Company as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required under applicable laws and regulations, neither the Tender Offerors, the Target Company, nor any of their affiliates assume any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect any future events or circumstances.

The respective financial advisors of NAVER, the Tender Offerors, the Target Company or the Target Company’s Special Committee as well as the tender offer agent(s) (including their affiliates) may, in the ordinary course of their business, engage in the purchase of shares or other securities of the Target Company not by the Tender Offer, or act in preparation for such purchase, for their own account or for their customers’ account before or during the Tender Offer Period in accordance with the requirements of Rule 14e-5(b) under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and to the extent permitted under Japanese financial instruments and exchange regulations and other applicable laws and ordinances. If any information concerning such purchase is disclosed in Japan, the relevant financial adviser or tender offer agent who conducted such purchase will disclose such information on its English website (or by any other means of public disclosure).

The Tender Offer described in this press release has not yet commenced. This press release is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to purchase or the solicitation of an offer to sell any common stock (including any American Depositary Share representing any common stock) or other securities of the Target Company. At the time the Tender Offer is commenced, the Tender Offerors and NAVER will file with the U.S. SEC a Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO containing an offer to purchase, a form of letter of transmittal and other documents relating to the tender offer, the Target Company will file with the U.S. SEC a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the Tender Offer, and the Tender Offerors, NAVER and the Target Company will file with the U.S. SEC a Schedule 13E-3 with respect to the Tender Offer. The Tender Offerors will mail the offer to purchase, form of letter of transmittal and other documents relating to the Tender Offer to the Target Company shareholders listed or recorded on the Target Company’s shareholder register. INVESTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THOSE DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY BEFORE MAKING A DECISION TO SELL OR TENDER IN THE TENDER OFFER AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE TENDER OFFER. Those documents and other documents filed by the Tender Offerors and the Target Company may be obtained without charge after they have been filed at the U.S. SEC’s website at https://www.sec.gov. The offer to purchase and related materials may also be obtained (when available) for free by contacting the information agent for the Tender Offer.