Rakuten is weighing a potential U.S. initial public offering of its credit card division, one of Japan’s largest, as the company looks to attract higher valuations abroad, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The move, still under consideration, follows SoftBank’s planned U.S. IPO of PayPay, which helped spark Rakuten’s interest in pursuing a similar path. Alternatives such as a stake sale to a strategic investor are also being evaluated, the sources said.
Mizuho Financial Group’s 15% purchase of Rakuten Card last year for 165 billion yen ($1.1 billion) valued the unit at more than 1 trillion yen ($7 billion). Rakuten Card has issued over 30 million cards, and while its annual operating profit rose 20% to 62 billion yen last year, it fell 4.5% in the most recent quarter due to rising expenses.
Credit cards are a cornerstone of Rakuten’s ecosystem, connecting customers across its shopping, travel, banking, and loyalty programs. CEO Koichi Nakamura said in March that the company aims to boost profits to 100 billion yen and expand into corporate services.
Rakuten’s shares climbed 4.7% after the report, outperforming the Topix index, which rose 1.6%. The potential U.S. IPO aligns with a broader surge in global listings, as companies seek access to deeper capital markets — with the U.S. IPO market raising $24 billion in Q3, its strongest quarter since 2021, per Dealogic data.
