THE BRIDGE

tag hatena

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

SHARE:

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). 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…

hatena-reception
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).

junya-kondo_portrait
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.

See also:

Edited by Kurt Hanson

U.S. teens show Facebook fatigue. But what about kids in Japan?

SHARE:

According to new research by Piper Jaffray, teens are growing tired of popular web destinations like Facebook and Youtube. They are moving on to sites like Reddit, Twitter, Vine, 4chan, and even SnapChat. But is this also true in Japan? Video Research Interative conducted a survey that might have the answer. The survey was done in Janurary of this year, and it found that the most frequently visited site among university students is Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689), followed by Google, Facebook, and Youtube. In comparison to teenagers, university students preferred sites like Facebook and Hatena, whereas teenagers preferred Youtube, FC2, and Ameba. Hatena operates series of web services like Hatena Diary, Jinriki Search Hatena (Jinriki means manpower in English), and the Japanese Delicious equivalent Hatena Bookmark. Ameba operates a lineup of services as well, but is mostly known for its blogging platform. The smartphone penetration of survey respondents has grown from 15.1% in November of 2010 to 43.5% in 2011, and 68.9% in same period last year. Many university students decided to switch from feature phones to smartphones when beginning their job-hunting in order to check for updated information and emails on the go. To keep up with the rapidly shifting…

facebook-fanAccording to new research by Piper Jaffray, teens are growing tired of popular web destinations like Facebook and Youtube. They are moving on to sites like Reddit, Twitter, Vine, 4chan, and even SnapChat. But is this also true in Japan? Video Research Interative conducted a survey that might have the answer.

The survey was done in Janurary of this year, and it found that the most frequently visited site among university students is Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689), followed by Google, Facebook, and Youtube. In comparison to teenagers, university students preferred sites like Facebook and Hatena, whereas teenagers preferred Youtube, FC2, and Ameba. Hatena operates series of web services like Hatena Diary, Jinriki Search Hatena (Jinriki means manpower in English), and the Japanese Delicious equivalent Hatena Bookmark. Ameba operates a lineup of services as well, but is mostly known for its blogging platform.

The smartphone penetration of survey respondents has grown from 15.1% in November of 2010 to 43.5% in 2011, and 68.9% in same period last year. Many university students decided to switch from feature phones to smartphones when beginning their job-hunting in order to check for updated information and emails on the go.

To keep up with the rapidly shifting interests of young people, Japanese companies are coming up with different strategies. CyberAgent, for example created a dedicated team for girls’ products back in December of 2012.

The smartphone shipping volume grew 146% compared to last year, and one survey (by Markezine conducted in August of 2012) suggests that one in five girls use their smartphone for longer than ten hours a day. Smapo, the Japanese equivalent of ShopKick that we covered in a past article, is finding new partners for female brands to better satisfy this growing segment.

markezine.jp
markezine.jp