Thank you very much for participating in our third quarter business results briefing today. Before we start, allow me to express our deepest sympathies to the victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred on New Year's Day. We at LY Corporation are committed to making contributions for the earliest possible recovery through various services we provide. We'd also like to apologize for your concerns and inconveniences caused by the information leakage that we announced on November 27th last year, which was caused by an unauthorized access. We are currently making every effort to formulate and implement measures to prevent the recurrence. We will provide more details at a later date. We will continue to make strenuous effort to ensure that our users and business partners can use our services with greater sense of safety and security.
This is Sakaue from LY Corporation. I'd like to explain the third quarter financial results. But first, I'd like to talk, explain the topics of the financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2023. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was JPY 109.8 billion, which was +17.4% year-on-year, and we revised upward our full-year guidance for Adjusted EBITDA. Revenue also reached JPY 475 billion, a record high for the third quarter. Consolidated results, total advertising revenue grew 3.7% YoY due to recovery in display advertising. Domestic merchandise transaction value turned to positive growth due to an improvement in shopping transaction volume. For strategic business, thanks to improved profitability from selective focus and business growth, Adjusted EBITDA remained positive, and full-year profitability is expected.
Some additional topics, LYP Premium got off to a good start from November twenty-ninth, with daily new memberships more than doubling from the Yahoo Premium days. New AI-driven services for ad creatives and delivery are planned to launch in April 2024. We will aim to utilize new technologies to grow ad revenue. Adjusted EPS is recovering at a faster than expected pace due to the effects of selective focus in key business areas, cost optimization, and one-time factors. I will now explain according to this agenda. Next, please. First, the consolidated business results for the entire group. Revenue increased, mainly driven by growth in account ads, PayPay, ZOZO, and ASKUL. Adjusted EBITDA increased by double digits in the third quarter due to cost optimization and the effect of selective focus.
As a result, Adjusted EBITDA margin was 23.1%, maintaining the same level as the first half. Next. This shows factors behind change in Adjusted EBITDA. Gross profit improved mainly in the media business, and SG&A expenses improved mainly in business commissions. Next. Factors behind change in operating income. Excluding the remeasurement gain from the consolidation of PayPay that took place, last year, depreciation increased, but Adjusted EBITDA grew and operating income grew by 33% year-on-year. Next. This shows the factors behind change in adjusted net income. Corporate income tax grew, but increase in operating income and improvement in equity in earnings of affiliates, as well as the absence of the impairment loss on Demae-can from the previous year, resulted in a significant increase in adjusted net income. This slide shows the adjusted EPS trend.
Due to growth in Adjusted EBITDA and also one-time tax effect from the merger, Adjusted EPS is recovering faster than expected. Taking into account the capital allocation policy explained in the second quarter, we will continue our efforts to bring Adjusted EPS back to the pre-merger level as soon as possible. Next, efforts to utilize AI. In order to improve the efficiency of our development work, last October, we introduced GitHub Copilot. Since its introduction, we have seen a reduction in coding time and improvement in development work indicators. In the area of search advertising, we plan to launch an automatic creative generation function in April of this year. This is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ad operations.
In display advertising, we are enhancing the automatic targeting function, which was launched in April last year for LINE Ads and is scheduled to be launched in March this year for Yahoo. This is our consolidated full-year guidance for fiscal 2023. As a result of steady progress in selective focus, we have revised Adjusted EBITDA upward to JPY 390 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for each segment has been accordingly revised. Revenue was revised downward to JPY 1.82 trillion as a result of selective focus and cost optimization. In addition, after the merger, the allocation of company-wide costs has been revised from the third quarter.... Personnel costs and data center and internal infrastructure costs that had been recorded as adjustments were allocated to each segment, and retroactively adjusted to fiscal 2022. That's shown in this table.
Next, I'd like to explain our business results and topics by segment. First, the media business performance. Advertising saw continued gradual improvement from the second quarter, resulting in higher revenue and income. In particular, account advertising led the increase in income and improved margins, with Adjusted EBITDA margin reaching 39.1%. As explained in the guidance slide, from the third quarter, we have reviewed the allocation of company-wide costs and made retroactive adjustments to the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Other segments have also been retroactively adjusted in a similar manner. In the third quarter, several services were transferred from other segments to media. The main one is the member services business, which was transferred from commerce to the media segment.
This is the entire group total advertising revenue. Search ads growth turned negative, but display ads turned positive in the third quarter as advertising market conditions gradually improved. Account ads grew by more than 20% year-on-year for the second consecutive quarter. Shopping-related ads, which had been declining due to cost optimization in the commerce business, started to pick up. As a result, the overall growth rate, including shopping-related ads, continued to improve moderately. Next page, please. Next is a breakdown of search advertising revenue. As explained in the previous quarter, about 80%-85% of our search advertising revenue are from LY Corporation's website. Revenues from our search ads displayed in our partner sites are shown as the partner's website. The highly profitable LY Corporation's website saw an increase in revenue in the third quarter as well, thanks to the effects of UI/UX improvements. Next page, please.
Let me explain account linkage and LYP Premium. The number of linked accounts grew steadily, reaching 23.22 million at the end of January. The number of daily LYP Premium new membership has more than doubled since the launch of the service on November 29 last year. Compared to Yahoo! Japan Premium, we will continue to implement campaigns and mass marketing to attract and acquire new registrants. Next page. This is account advertising. The number of paid accounts continued to increase as a result of pricing revisions last June. As a functional enhancement or improvement, measures to link with the group services were implemented last December. We reinforced features to enable users to friend LINE Official Accounts from Yahoo! Japan Maps and Yahoo! Japan Search to propel referrals. We also expanded a feature which enabled one-stop setting for managing multiple accounts last year in November.
We believe that these functions will enable companies and stores to reduce operational costs and further promote the acquisition and use of accounts. We will continue to enhance functions and improve operational efficiency to steadily grow the LINE Official Accounts. Next page. This page shows the performance of the commerce business. Revenue and income grew by 2.7% year-on-year, mainly due to an improvement in domestic merchandise transaction value, including ZOZO and ASKO. Adjusted EBITDA also grew by 6.1% year-on-year for the same reasons. Next page. E-commerce transaction value. The year-on-year growth rate of domestic merchandise transaction value, which had been negative since the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022, due to the reduction of sales promotion expenses, returned to positive in the third quarter, up 1.7% year-on-year.
The overall growth rate of domestic merchandise was 0.1% year-on-year, maintaining positive growth. Next page. Next is the overview of domestic e-commerce transaction value. Domestic shopping transaction value continued to recover, returning to a near flat level year-on-year. Domestic services transaction value slowed down due to the absence of the previous year's nationwide travel incentive program, resulting in a year-on-year decline of 7.4%. This is a strategic business performance. Revenue achieved growth of 17.5% year-on-year, mainly due to growth in PayPay and PayPay Card. Adjusted EBITDA increased steadily due to progress in reducing and reviewing loss-making businesses by consolidating business duplicates, while selectively focusing on key business areas, as well as growth and efficiency improvement in continuing businesses, including PayPay.
This is a business overview of PayPay. In the third quarter, the number of registered users, consolidated GMV, and consolidated revenue grew by more than double digits year-on-year, and the business is steadily expanding. Consolidated EBITDA was also positive in the third quarter. In addition to an increase in the number of registered users, MTU and the number of settlements also grew by double digits year-on-year, and the business continues to grow while improving profitability. This slide shows the key KPIs of PayPay Card. Due to synergies with PayPay, the number of active cardholders continued to grow by double digits, and transaction volume grew strongly by 28.1% year-on-year. The revolving balance also grew steadily, expanding sharply to 45.5% year-on-year. Next please. This is major, the KPIs of PayPay Bank.
PayPay Bank also enjoys synergies with PayPay, which results in the growth in major KPIs. The number of accounts has maintained double-digit growth due to acquisition via PayPay Mini Apps. Loan balance grew strongly by 32.1% year-on-year, due to the promotion campaigns of housing loans and business loans. Next please. This concludes my presentation. Thank you very much.
We will now have questions and answers session. JP Morgan Securities, Mori-san, please unmute and ask your question.
Mori from J.P. Morgan. Thank you for the explanation. Two questions. First, about the LYP Premium. So you have disclosed end of December membership, number of members. Almost no change from the previous quarter, is what it seems. And you said that the double new sign-ups. So what's your expectation about the number of members here? And, for example, end of March, what's the number you have in mind? And next, the term after promoting for a full year, and I expect you to do that kind of promotion, what's the potential for, for you to acquire membership? Is it, like, 30 million you're aiming for, or even higher?
I think it's a synergy that, or it, it's a service that leads to various synergies. So, what is the current situation, and what's your expectation going forward? That's my first question. May I continue with the second?
Yes, ask both questions together, please.
Second question. Next fiscal year, your investment policy, what's your current thinking as of now? This term, from the second half of last term, you have subdued the hiring, and you had various cost-cutting measures. This year's guidance resulted in high profit growth. Now, next term onwards, are you going to increase investment? That's my expectation. So LYP Premium, and there's also PayPay LINE linkage.
What is the policy of investment you have in mind? If possible, like, you want to maintain 10% profit growth with various, investment, that kind of, target, if you have any, please share.
Thank you. So first, about the LYP Premium. Second is, next term's investment policy. So Sakaue will answer both questions.
LYP Premium, as of end of March, well, from one year, we want to get it back to the year-ago level. So for 2023, by the end of third quarter, it was declining from Q1 to Q3. But with this new membership system and its new perks, by end of March, we want to bring it flat. And then next term onwards, we want to have actual increase. In terms of target numbers, we do have some internal numbers. They are not to be disclosed, and... But we think that we can increase further. So several million members, we think we can increase. So we do want to add that to the membership numbers. That's the first question.
About the investment for next fiscal year, we're putting together a budget now, and there's a vigorous debate going on internally. So the... Well, in May, we plan to announce the business results for the full year, and actual numbers we would like to disclose at that time. But the big framework is that, this fiscal year, we have reduced the fixed cost, took various measures, so we have become more muscular and more profitable. So we want to maintain that posture for the fixed cost, and we will continue on next fiscal year. On the other hand, though, measures that lead to top-line growth, sales promotions for top-line growth, that is what we're discussing. So for those where we can get good profitability, we would like to make solid investments.
So second point, I'm not able to give you a concrete answer, but those are my answers. So for the second question, if I may follow up just one point. As of now, next fiscal year, what will be the biggest profit driver? What item? Yes. Well, one is the strategic segment, the PayPay, to be specific. So for profit growth, I think that will be the major driver. In addition to that, account ads and e-commerce overall in Q3 hit bottom, and gradually it's coming back. So those are the areas combined together, shall be the profit increase drivers. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Moving on, from SMBC, Mr. Maeda, please unmute and ask your question.
Thank you. I am Maeda, I'm from SMBC Nikko Securities. I have two questions. First is about revenue. You reduced the projection for the revenue. Could you tell us a bit about the background here? And for each segment, if you take a look at it, for the advertisement, it is about the same as the original plan, but in the case of commerce, it is declining. And also, for the strategic, the business for which the revenue is not disclosed, could you tell us a bit about how it is changing? And also, you talked about the selective, the focus on the areas.
So business, it has been a decline, and could you tell us a bit about the reason here, it related to the low promotion? And for each segment, could you tell us a bit about the fourth quarter and maybe focusing on the direction of each business? This is my first question. My second question is about PayPay business. Promotion costs will be utilized, and in certain area, EBITDA will be reduced, or maybe it goes down to the deficit. That's something I have in mind, but still, the third quarter was good, and then starting the fourth quarter onward, could you tell us, say, how this will fare? And also in next year, next term, do you think you will be able to maintain the positive growth or profit?
Thank you for your question.
The first question is about the background of the revision of the revenue and also the fourth quarter projection. And then the second question is about PayPay. Thank you for your questions. It's like how we answer both your questions. About the revision of the revenues, there are two major reasons for that. For the commerce segment and also for the strategic business segment, we reduced the projected revenue from the beginning of the term. There are different reasons for that. For the commerce segment, we have more stringent investment principles, so we make sure that we will be able to have good gains out of this investment. So we try to be stringent, and they have higher discipline. That's the reason why, in the commerce area, we have negative impact.
And also, for the e-commerce, initially, we saw that we were more proactive in the looking into the future, so we were the more bullish here. For the strategic business, we try to work on the selective selection of the selective focus on this, but from after a while, we saw some big reduction. And also for the PayPay, so for the promotion, we have been more selective in the discipline. And also, we had some more discipline for the investment. That's the reason why we are seeing the decline. So for the commerce and also strategic business, there have been a decline. That's the background. For the fourth quarter direction, I'd like to explain to you one by one.
For the media business, ultimately, it, as can be seen in the guidelines, that would be the lower part of the low single digit. That would be the final figure. And then for the account ads, perhaps that'll be around, say, 15%-20%+ , so that we will continue to be like this in the fourth quarter. In the display ads, we are seeing the recovery of the market, so therefore, the display market, we do believe that in Q4, we will have this kind of a trend of recovery, as in the case of Q3. And then, in the case of the such as the partner ads, the site is negative.
And for LINE, its UI/UX, it has been improved about 1 year ago, maybe, slightly more than 1 year ago. In November or December 2 years ago, we have seen the increase of the UI/UX. So then, there have been the benefit, but after a while, this will be going down to the normal level. So that's the reason why there has been a decrease. So this is the direction that we see in the media. And then in the case of commerce, for ZOZO and ASKUL, they are listed. I think you are able to understand the situation because they are listed, so the situation in Q4 would be almost the same as Q3. And then in the Yahoo!
Shopping, the GMV, in terms of GMV, so for the Yahoo! Japan Shopping, the at alone, we will have the positive growth, the, perhaps say the double, double digit. And then for the strategic segment, there is no major change from the third quarter onward to the fourth quarter. Then to answer your second question, which is about PayPay. For Q4, the promotion costs associated with the PayPay Matsuri or PayPay Festival, will be bigger in Q4. So this is the seasonal factor. So maybe it might be difficult to have a profit in the first, fourth quarter, and this is something we already have in mind. And starting next year, we will continue to aim for the profit generation.
There could be some changes of the strategies, but starting next year, I would like to continue maintaining the profit, and at the same time, we would like to continue having growth on the revenue as well. So we'd like to do both, the revenue and income and the profit. Thank you.
Thank you. From Goldman Sachs, Munakata-san, please unmute.
Munakata from Goldman Sachs Securities. Thank you for this opportunity to ask the question. I want to also ask two questions. The first question, looking back third quarter, about the momentum of the media business, what I want to ask about, quarter-over-quarter, the revenue is coming back, it seems. But, how do you look at the market condition in Q3? That's what I'd like to ask about. Especially the display ad recovery trend. Is it, market environment-driven? Is that the main factor? Or, do you see some, good, strong, signs internally? That's the first question. Second question, about the shopping, the search related ads. You talked about that in the previous meeting, and I think that started in November. What's the current situation?
How are you seeing it, NAVER and other browsers? It's a product that leads sales, so personally, I have a lot of expectation for that. So, what's your expectation for the next year as well, the shopping search ads? So first question, Q3 media ad momentum, Ikehata-san will answer. And then, the shopping growth, shopping search ads, like to answer later, if I say that is.
Ikehata-san here.
The first point, let me answer the question. Third quarter, the ad market as a whole, well, digital advertising market environment, was that the market deterioration has hit the bottom. So very gradually, we're starting to see the trend of recovery, and that is continuing, it seems.
Especially for third quarter, especially in December, the advertiser, it's a time when they're able to spend their budget, generally speaking. When so recovery up to before the deterioration of market, that hasn't been seen. But compared to the worst times, the advertisers propensity to spend is higher, and we have been able to capture such spending. So gradual recovery is what we expect. So the impact of the ad market environment is that only reason for the recovery in display ads in third quarter? The answer is no. In addition to the market environment recovery, two major points: LINE display, Yahoo! display, the product development part, including the automation and function we have incorporated, or we have been getting good feedback from the advertisers, so that's been effective.
And also, Q3, especially from October, we have integrated the sales organization. And so sales activity has become slim, very efficient, no slack, and we feel that, and we see that in the results as well. And so the improvement in the market, that is one factor, but there are other factors as well that we are witnessing. So that's my response. Thank you. Second question, about the shopping search ads. So the initial speed of the response from various advertisers, well, there's starting to place more ads. And so the feedback is good. I think we've made a good start. In terms of the size, how much we will actually see, we have to continue to watch.
So we're trying to strengthen search again, and the ad revenue we want to reach tens of billions level. So that's what we're aiming for.
... Thank you very much.
Thank you. Moving on, from Citigroup Securities, it is Tsuru-san, please unmute and raise your question.
Thank you. Can you hear me all right? My name is Tsuru.
Yes, we can hear you.
I have two questions. One is on page eight, on the right-hand side. In three years or four years, EPS will be 18.7 yen will be realized, but looking at the progress, the, at this point on the third quarter, it is 17.4 yen, if it is the, adjusted, the EBITDA, EPS. So on the third quarter, the, the, do you foresee any negative factors? And also, for the full year, that you have to revise upward the projection. So maybe the, the, the, the, you, might be able to accelerate this process, not in three years down the road, but maybe earlier.
And then on page nine, so utilizing AI for the search, the ads, you have the, it could be, you will have the automated generation of creative. So you have the AI, you are the, dedicated the AI, ChatGPT could be used, the Google, search engines could be used, could be continued to be used. So there have been some discussions here. So you can have the dedicated, the proprietary AIs, could you tell us about it, and also about the selection of the search engine that you are, thinking of working on? So I'm sure—I'm sorry, I have, I have to ask you many more questions here. Thank you.
The first question was about EPS, and the second is the search AI or maybe, search AI and also search engines. So, I—I'd like to answer these two questions from myself.
About the EPS, for this year, there has been a guidance revision for Q4, so the JPY 18.7 may be realized here on an accelerated basis. Are we not able to deny that? And I don't deny that. And then also about the integration, there has been the tax effect, and several Yen has been saved in terms of cash. So that has been the background with which we were able to report that figure. So we'd like to continue working on the realization of JPY 18.7 . So that's the first and foremost we have to work on. Starting next year, next term, we will have further goals.
Now, we will work on the budgeting and also the revenue guidance, and so we will announce that in May. Oh, excuse me, May. So, we will decide and announce to you the final figures for that. And then, about the search engines. About the AI, this AI part is related to technology, so this cannot be disclosed. And also, with regards to the contract with Google, this will be valid till the end of the fiscal year 2025, which is March 2025. So, at this point, we are still discussing within this company. Needless to say, when you use the term the search engines, we have ChatGPT kind of AI.
So maybe we, there is a major trend to combine the search engines with the AI. So we try to be cautious in making decision, looking into all the possibilities. This is a major decision that we will make, so we would like to make sure that we will report to you when we draw some conclusion here. So at this point, we do have the contract with Google, so we'd like to continue doing what we have now. And also, at the same time, we look into the utilization of generative AI, so that we'll be able to understand what we have to do in the down the road. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Just one more thing. The tax effect was there, we...
For the EBITDA, the revision, upward revision was there, and so that means that we have the accelerated pace of the realization of the goals. So in the next three to four years, we will attain JPY 18.7 . So the last time, the last time, we said that we will do that in three to four years, but now, the things are changing. Maybe that will be three years, not four years. So, JPY 18.7 might be able to be attained at an earlier stage. Could you tell us a bit about it? Thank you very much.
So when we say three years or four years, about this, yes. Thank you for your comment. So we'd like to put that into the next year's, next term's, the projection.
When we are able to attain the goal of JPY 18.7 on a stable basis, we'd like to make a comment at that time. Thank you very much. That's all from me. Thank you.
Next, Simplex Asset Management. Homma-san, please.
Simplex Asset Management, Homma here. Thank you for this opportunity. Let me ask the question. In Q2, you talked about the capital allocation policy. What's your latest on that, about buying your own shares? You have this capital buffer, so this is after you earn operating income. And so what is your idea about the equity? And as was asked, I think you are seeing strong response, and I would hope to see there is acceleration in this. The background to this is, what, you have the plan to maintain listing, and you're going to extend...
The time limit, and so I think you have some time, and SBKK Miyakawa's explanation talked about this, and in NAVER's interview article on the website. The need for sales, is that being recognized? I really want to know about that, please.
That's one question about capital allocation, so Sakaue will respond.
So, no change from what we announced, so that was for three-year cumulative. So for the capital buffer, JPY 500 billion. So it's not that the operating capital flow has accumulated, but compared with others, if there is this thing that seems attractive, then flexibly, we want to use that capital. And in terms of shareholders comments, it's difficult for me to comment. But in terms of response from my holdings, we have communication. And in terms of achieving listing requirements, we will seek cooperation, and at a certain timing, we will discuss how to do this, and we'll make decisions accordingly. And if there is anything that we should disclose, we will make sure to do that quickly. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Next, Masuno-san from Nomura Securities. Please unmute and raise your question.
Masuno from Nomura. I have two questions. First is about strategy, and the second is the strategy, is the business and the next is commerce. And the commerce businesses are doing well. What worked well? My first question. And then in the case of banks, there has not been a sharp rise of the number of accounts, number of members. Could you tell us about the kind of measures that you are planning to make, if any? So do you think you will do something? Or maybe you could work on the strategy, the structural reforms starting Q4, or are there any, the structural reforms that you are planning to do for the strategic business, for the commerce business?
If for 4Q, shopping GMV is close to the double digit, which is stronger than I expected, and IP is not today growing rapidly. Could you tell us how you were able to do this? For LYP Premium, will have further growth for the next term. So could you tell us a bit more about the commerce business?
Thank you. First is about the strategic segment. The second we will answer, and the second part is about the shopping-related business. So I'd like to explain. For the strategic segment, cardholder acquisition has been doing well, and therefore, we have PayPay Credit. We had PayPay Atobarai, which was the previous term, so is the PayPay app, and we have been strongly pushing this sale. And also Gold Card has been introduced. So these are the driving factors for that, and with that, we are able to see the growth in the value and also in terms of the number of cardholders for the PayPay card and for the banks.
And certainly, we try to think of the overall picture, incorporating both PayPay and PayPay Card, the bank, and then there is no further strong efforts made for that, by for that. So we have not done anything drastic. PayPay Bank should be good in terms of usability. We have to enhance the service quality, and then after that, we have to work on some new measures to increase the acquisition of the number of users. So as in the case of card and the banks, we have to say that banks are the, they're lagging behind. That means we have room for improvement. That's how we are looking at PayPay Bank. And then about the strategic segment, about the structural reforms, the...
From now on, we don't have anything in mind at this moment. So we have been working on the strategic segments. We try to make sure that we'll see the growth in the certain businesses that are classified as strategic segment. Hide-san will answer the second question.
About the shopping GMV, allow me to make some additional comments. For fourth quarter GMV, that'll be the high single digit to the double digit. The most important is the cost optimization. Two years ago, in November and December, we started out the this kind of initiative, and this has fed through. So that means that the cost, the standard had been lowered, and then in last one year, the YoY had been doing well. So that's the reason why we have seen the increase of this. So we have organic growth for that. And then in the case of premium, as you just mentioned, we will see the increase of the number of members, in the years to come.
So this is not necessarily for quarter four, but rather, this, that'll be something we will have on the 2024 year, fiscal year 2024. About next year, we are in the process of discussion, so we'd like to report to you on the next-
...A briefing. Thank you. That was the supplemental remark. About next year, you said that the impact had fed through, so, and then this is for several quarters, and then if you see the increase of the premium, then compared with Q4, we are not able to see—I am not able to see, foresee any situation where it is lower than the Q4. Certainly, there could be some defect for Q4, and then that means that this will be effective for quarter three next year. And then on top of that, we have strategic initiatives. So we will have further discussions to come up with the direction for next year. Thank you very much.
Thank you. CLSA, Mr. Oliver Matthew, please unmute and ask your question.
Hello, hello. Thank you for the presentation. I have two questions. The first question, on commerce: Could you comment what you think is the overall, e-commerce growth in Japan for the market? And how you see your own strategy compared to that? It still seems to me you have too many platforms, so I want to understand how, you think about your e-commerce business on the high-level strategic link. My second question, I think, you're planning to revamp the LINE app. I expect you've been working on this in the few months since the last, analyst meeting. Could you tell us what is the most exciting, say, one or two points for that LINE, revamp, that's going to come along? Thank you.
Thank you for the first question. Hide will answer.
So commerce market, Japanese e-commerce market, what's our view about that, and what would be our positioning in that market? That was the question, I believe. And so the e-commerce market in Japan as a whole, fiscal 2023, there was a. The impact of COVID disappeared, and so it was post-COVID in fiscal 2023. So e-commerce, well, it grew substantially during COVID as a market, so the market growth as a whole for fiscal 2023 has decelerated a bit. That's our understanding for the market growth. The official growth numbers, we need to wait, but our sense is a single digit, middle single digit of around 5% growth, market growth total is what we think happened. And we have been working on more efficient costs.
So compared with the market growth, I think for fiscal 2023, we're a little bit lower, but as we responded earlier, that's run its course. So next fiscal year, we're aiming for a growth that exceeds the market's growth. That's my answer.
So the second question, Sakaue will comment, and then Kataoka, in charge of media, will also make a comment.
About the renewal of the LINE application, we think two major things. The first, a shopping tab is going to be created. So many users of LINE will be provided a shopping experience. It's sort of like a portal to shopping. And so we talked about e-commerce earlier, so we hope to invite the users to experience shopping. So that's a big challenge, but we'll want to do that.
So messenger app and the gift, there's good affinity. We see that in LINE Gift and the Kakao Gift, also successful in Korea. So we want to further introduce this, so we want to try to lure the users to shop shopping more broadly. So... And then there's the portable. So, Kataoka Media will explain about the second new function.
Kataoka here.
So as was mentioned, LINE app, well, it has one of the largest user base in Japan, and so it's being used by a huge number of people for communication. We want to expand the usage further. And as Sakaue said, commerce is one thing, then the portal is the other. So usage of news and also create other reasons for people to come or use, like search. There is a lot of potential for usage and the monetization from search. And so we will do portal as well, and so we will try to expand usage. So that's what we're considering internally. Thank you.
Thank you. Could I just ask you a follow-up on LINE Shopping? I think you tried e-commerce before, and it didn't work very well. So what's different? What have you learned, and why do you think this time will succeed?
...I'd like to respond to that. So fundamentally, LY is promoting commerce, and the direction is different from when we were just Yahoo! Now we have a bigger reach by coming together with LINE. I think that is the difference from before. And one of the initiatives is LINE Shopping tab. And also, we want high-quality members, LYP Premium member initiatives is what we're doing. So the reach is bigger, and as we have people who will become members who come through LINE, and we can drive that movement further. So with that as our pillar, we would like to further vitalize the customer base. In addition to that, next fiscal year onwards, LINE and PayPay collaboration will start.
And so within LINE, we will have more PayPay users. And so if you become a PayPay user, you will have PayPay points from Yahoo! Shopping and LINE service. So LINE reach of LINE and PayPay point and more users with those three. So we would like to use our assets more effectively, and so we think that we can make this initiative a more bigger, broader one than before. That's my answer.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We are soliciting questions. If you have any questions, please press the Zoom button of raising your hand. Allow me to repeat myself. If you have any questions, please raise your hand in your Zoom. Mr. Okamura of Neuberger Berman, please unmute.
Thank you very much. I'm, I'm the new—from Neuberger. I'm Okamura. You have been talking about EPS for a midterm, the goals of EPS. And the progress level is very high, so we tend to believe that you are able to accelerate the achievement of that. So the answer is that you try to achieve on a continuous basis or on a sustainable basis. Could you tell us a bit about the how—what you mean by the sustainable basis? I'm sorry, this is a very basic question.
Thank you. I am Sakaue.
I'm sorry, I used the, the complicated term. When I say on a sustainable word, the sustainable term, I'm talking about something that could continue. So this is not about one-off things, but rather we'd like to realize something that can continue. So that's something we have in mind. And also, when I say JPY 18.7, we could achieve JPY 18.7 per one year, and then we could drop to a lower figure. So we don't want that, so we'd like to continue attaining JPY 18.7 after we reach it for a long time. I understand that. Thank you. So in thinking about this goal, the EPS, as you know, is done by the earnings and the per-share figures.
So in what way you are able to have good growth for the PL, and then also, you have to pay attention to the number of shares. In the case of your company, LY Corporation, I'm sure you have the limitation of the holding of the shares. So in terms of PL, in terms of businesses, in what the most important would be how you are able to raise the level on your actual operation rather than the number of stocks. Yes, the PL growth is important. That's the single most important factor. And in terms of the increase of the shares, we cannot deny that we do not do that. However, the most important is to increase the level of the revenue, and so the profit.
We have parent company, and so we ourselves would not be able to have the entire control. The PL, the improvement of the PL is the most important factor. Thank you very much.
Thank you. It is the scheduled time to close, so this will be the last question. Point72, Luigi Limentani-san, please unmute and ask your question.
Can you hear?
We hear you.
Page 10 of the presentation material. So this time, Adjusted EBITDA. So this adjustment at the bottom, that was the biggest factor. So adjustment allocation, I want to know for each segment, how did you allocate those costs? So allocation for the adjustments, let me respond to that question. So media segment, about JPY 52 billion has been allocated based on the allocation rule change. So that would be minus JPY 52 billion impact to profit. For commerce segment, minus JPY 12 billion. So that, so the cost was moved to the commerce side. And then for strategic segment, that was the JPY +12 billion.
So the strategic segment, because it has many subsidiaries in this segment, so allocation was actually reduced. So all in all, JPY 52 billion was allocated to each of the segments based on the change in the allocation rules. I see. Thank you.
Second question, the Adjusted EBITDA. From looking at this from the outside, it's become more difficult to understand. It's adjusted or modified each term. So next term onwards, I want to see the in you use an indicator that's closer to the real EBITDA. Is that possible?
We hear you, and we take that opinion, and we would like to consider it. Thank you for your suggestion. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your time and your busy schedules for this, the past one hour. And we try to be secure, as was mentioned by the president. And then for the next year, we'd like to create something new, something that can make you say, "Wow!" So, this be a very important day next year. So we'd like to make sure that all of us will do our best effort. And in this regard, we'd like to ask for your continued support. Thank you.
With this, we'd like to close this meeting for the third quarter business results briefing for LY Corporation. Thank you very much for your time until the very end. Thank you.