Kakaku.com
Japanese platform running price comparison, restaurant reviews (Tabelog), and job listings.
On the record
Checkpoint: EQT tender offer deadline, with LY/Bain counter-bid pending
The call
The price comparison business is shrinking as AI tools answer shopping questions directly, while Tabelog keeps growing and two buyers fight over the whole company.
Kakaku.com runs a website where people compare prices on products and read restaurant reviews (especially through its Tabelog brand). The price-comparison part is getting harder to use because ChatGPT and Google now answer shopping questions directly inside their apps without sending people to Kakaku, and fewer users are clicking through each month. The one thing that could save the company is if its restaurant review section stays popular enough to make money on its own, or if the new owner (either a private equity firm or Yahoo Japan) finds a way to work with AI instead of losing to it.
Why
01
AI pressure: OpenAI ChatGPT shopping research and Google AI Mode shopping. Both now answer product and restaurant queries directly, and Kakaku.com's core segment lost 18% of monthly users in nine months. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: LY Corporation (Yahoo! Japan Shopping, PayPay Shopping). LY runs a rival shopping platform and is bidding with Bain to buy Kakaku.com outright, raising fold-in risk for the flagship. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. Tabelog's merchant-paid listings and review depth give restaurants a reason to stay even as AI summarizes results.
What would change this call
Kakaku.com segment monthly UMU figure in the Q1 FY27/3 earnings report (~Aug 2026). Shows whether the 18% user decline is stabilizing or accelerating.
Outcome of the August 3, 2026 tender deadline (EQT vs LY Corporation/Bain). Determines if flagship stays independent or gets folded into a direct rival's platform.
Tabelog segment revenue growth rate in subsequent quarterly filings versus the +20.5% 9M FY26/3 figure. Shows whether the review moat keeps compounding even as AI agents summarize restaurant info.
Outcome of the August 3, 2026 tender deadline (EQT vs LY Corporation/Bain). Determines if flagship stays independent or gets folded into a direct rival's platform.
Tabelog segment revenue growth rate in subsequent quarterly filings versus the +20.5% 9M FY26/3 figure. Shows whether the review moat keeps compounding even as AI agents summarize restaurant info.
Key numbers
- Kakaku.com segment users fell 18%, 39.88M to 32.69M
- Tabelog segment revenue up 20.5% YoY
- FY25/3 consolidated revenue ¥78,435M
Named risks
- Flagship Kakaku.com segment MUUs fell 18% in nine months to Dec 2025 amid AI shopping agents.
- Unresolved bidding war could see rival LY Corporation absorb the flagship into a competing platform.
- AI shopping research tools (ChatGPT, Google AI Mode) natively replicate core price-comparison task.
- Political scrutiny over possible collusion between activist investors and PE bidders in the takeover.
- Goodwill impairment (Y446M) signals management already downgrading flagship segment outlook.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| LY Corporation | contesting | LY/Bain bid Y3,384/share for Kakaku.com on 2026-07-02 while running rival Yahoo! Japan Shopping |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT shopping research) | gaining on | Launched shopping research in ChatGPT 2026-07-22, replicating comparison-shopping function |
| Google AI Mode | gaining on | Rolled out conversational shopping discovery and agentic checkout through 2025-2026 |
| Amazon Japan | contesting | Named top traffic-overlap competitor to Kakaku.com per Similarweb, June 2026 |
| EQT (BPEA) | contesting | Raised take-private bid to Y3,450/share by 2026-07-19, deadline extended to 2026-08-03 |
Questions people ask
- Is Kakaku.com profitable in 2026?
- Yes. For FY ended March 2025, Kakaku.com posted consolidated revenue of ¥78,435M (+17.2% YoY) and net profit attributable to owners of ¥20,032M (+10.7% YoY), as of 2025-03-31. Nine-month FY26/3 operating profit dipped 4.2% YoY due to a ¥446M goodwill impairment on the core segment.
- Who is trying to buy Kakaku.com?
- Two bidders are fighting over it as of July 2026: private equity firm EQT (via BPEA) raised its tender offer to ¥3,450/share (~$4.2B) on 2026-07-19, while a rival consortium of LY Corporation and Bain Capital countered at ¥3,384/share. The deadline was extended to August 3, 2026.
- Is Kakaku.com's flagship price-comparison site shrinking?
- Yes. Monthly unique users on the core Kakaku.com segment fell from 39.88M in March 2025 to 32.69M in December 2025, an 18% drop in nine months, while segment revenue grew only 1.9% YoY, per the company's 2026-02-04 nine-month filing.
- Could AI replace Kakaku.com?
- The flagship price-comparison function is directly exposed: OpenAI launched shopping research in ChatGPT on 2026-07-22 and Google's AI Mode added conversational shopping and agentic checkout through 2025-2026, both replicating Kakaku.com's core comparison task while its own user base already fell 18% in nine months to December 2025.
- Is Tabelog also declining like Kakaku.com's flagship site?
- No. Tabelog, Kakaku.com's restaurant review and reservation platform, grew segment revenue 20.5% YoY in the nine months to December 2025, per the company's 2026-02-04 filing, even as the core price-comparison segment stagnated and took a goodwill impairment.
- Who owns Kakaku.com and what is its biggest competitive threat?
- Kakaku.com trades on TSE (ticker 2371) with KDDI holding ~17.55% and Oasis Management-related funds ~19.14% as of 2026. Its biggest threats are AI shopping agents from OpenAI and Google eroding its flagship traffic, and a possible takeover by rival LY Corporation, which runs a competing shopping platform.
Timeline
- 2026-07-24Bain Capital and LY Corp reportedly prepare another counter-bid for Kakaku.com
- 2026-07-22OpenAI launches shopping research in ChatGPT, directly overlapping Kakaku.com's core function
- 2026-07-19EQT raises bid to Y3,450/share; Kakaku.com board withdraws recommendation of original EQT offer
- 2026-07-02LY Corp and Bain Capital raise counter-offer to Y3,384/share (~$4.12B)
- 2026-02-049M FY26/3 filing shows 18% user decline and goodwill impairment on flagship segment
- 2025-08Tabelog launches inbound-tourist MEO marketing service for restaurants
- 2025-05-08FY25/3 results show revenue Y78,435M, up 17.2% YoY
- 2025-02Tabelog joins OpenAI's Operator research preview
- 2022-04Kakaku.com moves from Mothers to TSE Prime market
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Kakaku.com Q4/FY earnings presentation (2025-05-08)
- Consolidated Earnings Report FY ended March 31, 2025 (2025-05-08)
- Consolidated Financial Results for Nine Months Ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-04)
- EQT to Launch Tender Offer to Privatize Kakaku.com (2026-05-12)
- EQT Raises Kakaku.com Bid Above Rival Offer in Escalating Japan Buyout Battle (2026-07-19)
- LY Corp., Bain Capital Raise Offer for Kakaku.com in $4.1 Billion Take-Private Bid (2026-07-02)
- LY Corporation And Bain Capital Submit $4.1 Billion Proposal To Acquire Kakaku.com
- Introducing shopping research in ChatGPT (2026-07-22)
- 株式会社カカクコム press releases (2025-07-24)
- 株式会社カカクコム (2025-09-30)
- 株式会社カカクコム
- 株式会社カカクコム FAQ