Masayoshi Son has found his next “Arm Holdings.”
PayPay, the SoftBank-backed Japanese payments giant, publicly filed its paperwork for a U.S. initial public offering on Thursday. Moving past a delay caused by the U.S. government shutdown, the filing sets the stage for the first major SoftBank-majority listing since the 2023 blockbuster debut of chip designer Arm.
📊 THE FINANCIAL POWERHOUSE: Unlike many fintech IPOs that trade on “future promise,” PayPay is printing cash now.
- Profit Explosion: Reported a net profit of ¥103.3 billion ($675 million) for the nine months ended Dec 31—more than 3x the ¥29 billion profit from the prior year.
- Revenue: Jumped to ¥278.5 billion.
- The Scale: Investors expect a valuation exceeding ¥3 trillion (approx. $20 billion), with the offering potentially raising over $2 billion.
💳 THE STRATEGIC TIMING:
- The Ticker: Will trade on the Nasdaq under “PAYP”.
- The Underwriters: A heavy-hitter lineup of Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho, and Morgan Stanley.
- The “Why”: This liquidity event is critical for SoftBank. As Masa Son pivots aggressively into AI (funding OpenAI and other ventures), he is monetizing mature assets like PayPay to bankroll the next generation of deep tech bets.
💡 ANALYST TAKEAWAY: PayPay is the “Venmo of Japan”—but profitable. After winning the domestic QR code war through aggressive subsidies in 2018-2020, the company has successfully pivoted to monetization. For US investors, this is a rare opportunity to buy into a dominant Asian consumer fintech that has already cleared the path to profitability. For SoftBank, it’s the fuel for the AI fire.
👇 Fintech Investors: Does PayPay’s profitability make it a “must-own” asset compared to loss-making US peers?