SoftBank Said to Seek Stake in Naver’s Line Messaging Unit

SoftBank Corp. is seeking to buy a stake in Line Corp., the mobile-messaging service controlled by South Korea’s Naver Corp., people with knowledge of the matter said. Naver shares jumped.

Line has received at least one other offer for all or some of the company, prompting it to slow preparations for an initial public offering, said two of the people, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Tokyo-based Line, which has about 340 million users, may be valued at as much as $14.9 billion, according to BNP Paribas SA estimates.