Behind the scenes of the $27bn Yahoo-Line merger

Deal driven by desire to defend Japan and grow in Asia -- and SoftBank's deep pockets

TAKAFUMI HOTTA, MASAYUKI YUDA and WATARU SUZUKI, Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO/BANGKOK -- It was two months ago that Yahoo Japan and Line got serious about merging their two companies in a $27 billion union that would create an internet platform serving over 100 million people and could be big enough to fend off U.S. tech giants like Facebook from Japan.

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