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26 Jan 2017 By Robyn Mak Follow @mak_robyn

Unexpectedly weak results from Japan’s top chat app sent its shares crashing. Line outdoes WhatsApp in making money from selling games, stickers and services to users. But sales growth is slowing – and it now looks more reliant on advertising than previously thought.

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Line Corp, which operates Japan's most popular messaging app, reported revenue of 37.5 billion yen ($331 million) in the three months to December, an increase of 16 percent year on year. Earnings were 2.2 billion yen, compared to a net loss of 279 million yen in the same period last year.

Operating profit was 1.6 billion yen, 72 percent lower than the mean forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Line's Tokyo-listed shares fell 11 percent to 3,720 yen by mid-morning on Jan. 26.

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