SoftBank's PayPay moves closer to public markets with US IPO filing

PayPay publicly filed its paperwork for a U.S. initial public offering on Thursday, as the SoftBank-backed Japanese payments app moves ahead with its highly anticipated stock market flotation after a U.S. government shutdown-driven delay.

The move sets the stage for the ‌first U.S. ⁠listing of ⁠a SoftBank-majority investment since the blockbuster IPO of chip designer Arm Holdings in 2023.

PayPay's stock market flotation was initially expected in December, but the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown delayed the regulatory review and pushed back the planned listing.


The company reported a profit of 103.3 billion yen ($675.47 million) on revenue of 278.5 billion ⁠yen for ‌the nine-month period ended December 31, compared with a profit of 29 billion yen on revenue of 220.4 ⁠billion yen a year earlier.

The offering could raise more than $2 billion, Reuters reported in August. PayPay did not disclose the size or the proposed price range.

Investors expect the valuation of PayPay could exceed 3 trillion yen in the planned IPO, Reuters reported in October. PayPay and SoftBank plan to sell shares in the proposed offering.

The listing had been ‌in the works for some time, with SoftBank setting PayPay's flotation as a goal back in 2021.

In May, SoftBank announced that IPO preparations were underway, ⁠and months later PayPay revealed it had confidentially filed for a New York listing.

PayPay's listing comes at a time when Masayoshi Son's sprawling tech conglomerate has been monetizing assets to plough capital into its ever-growing AI push.

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho, and Morgan Stanley are the lead underwriters for the offering. PayPay will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "PAYP". ($1 = 152.9300 yen)