Hatena’s IPO filing approved as Japan’s first for 2016

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Image Credit: Norio Nakayama (licensed under Creative Commons)

Kyoto-headquartered internet company Hatena had earlier submitted an IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), which was approved on Thursday. This is the first IPO approved by the TSE this year.

The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 24 February with plans to offer 370,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 113,200 shares in over-allotment options, for a total of 385,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SMBC Nikko Securities. According to the consolidated statement as of July 2015, they posted a revenue of 1.4 billion yen ($11.9 million) and an ordinary profit of 150 million yen ($1.3 million).

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Junya Kondo, Founder and Chairman, Hatena

Major shareholders include the company’s founder and chairman Junya Kondo (66.3%) and its employee stock owners. Since its launch back in 2001, the company has been offering several internet services including blogging platform, online bookmarking service and native ad platform. In association with Japanese game giant Nintendo, Hatena developed in 2012 a communication platform for the Nintendo Wii called Miiverse. Hatena derives 30.9% of its revenue from Nintendo.

While 92 companies were IPO-ed in 2015 in Japan, many financial interests say that 90 to 100 Japanese companies are expected to be approved for IPO this year.

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Edited by Kurt Hanson