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LINE DENIES SOFTBANK INVESTMENT RUMORS: LINE, a hugely popular mobile messaging app, is denying rumors that it has received an investment offer from SoftBank Crop. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Softbank Corp. offered to take a stake in the Japan-based mobile messaging company. The report did not disclose the exact details of the deal. "The report is groundless. We haven't had any talks with SoftBank,” said an official with Naver Corp., LINE’s parent company. The Japan-based mobile messaging service has 340 million users, and may be valued at as much as $14.9 billion. (Reuters, Bloomberg)
In other LINE news, the popular messaging app is launching a new voice call feature in a number of markets, including Japan and the U.S. LINE will make voice calls available to users on 30-day plans priced at roughly 6.5 yen (6 cents) per minute per call. Because this is a pay-as-you-go plan, LINE will not be competing with Viber, WhatsApp, and other messaging services that have launched free, Internet-powered voice calls, but instead will put it in a category with Skype and Google Hangouts. (Engadget)
41% OF LINKEDIN TRAFFIC COMES FROM MOBILE: LinkedIn is nearing the halfway mark for mobile usage. Forty-one percent of LinkedIn users are accessing the professional social network from a mobile device, up from 38% last October. “We’re becoming a mobile company. We’re going through this metamorphosis. We started as a caterpillar and we’re going to exit this as a butterfly,” said LinkedIn vice president Joff Redfern. The company expects mobile to account for 50% of its traffic by the end of the year. This mobile growth is something we've been anticipating. In October, we wrote that LinkedIn would likely see half of visitors accessing on mobile by 2014 year-end. Based on LinkedIn's announcement, that expectation appears to be on track. (TechCrunch)
MCDONALD’S LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN ON SNAPCHAT: McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast food chain, is launching a campaign with basketball star Lebron James on Snapchat. The company released a 36-second “story” on the social network to promote its new line of bacon clubhouse sandwiches. Like Taco Bell, which launched a campaign on the social network over the summer, McDonald’s is hoping to tap into Snapchat’s millennial- and teenage-dominated user base. (AdAge)
ZEFR RAISES $30 MILLION: Zefr, a company that specializes in social marketing and rights management tools for YouTube, has raised $30 million in a funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners. Zefr counts nearly every major studio and label among its clients, including Paramount, Sony Music, and Universal. (VentureBeat)
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