Is Wantedly profitable in 2026?

Wantedly posted FY2025 net profit of ¥1.08 billion (EPS ¥114.04) for the year ended Aug 31, 2025, but FY2026 Q1 (Nov 30, 2025) operating profit fell 23% YoY to ¥335 million on revenue of ¥1.184 billion, down 3% YoY, showing the company is still profitable but margins are compressing.

Could AI replace Wantedly's core service?

AI adoption among HR professionals hit 72% in 2025 per Staffing Industry Analysts, and Wantedly's culture-content, matching, and scout-messaging workflows overlap directly with generative AI recruiting tools, though its 44,000-company, 4M-user network built by Nov 2025 offers some buffer against pure AI substitution.

Who is Wantedly's biggest competitor?

Recruit Holdings (Rikunabi, Indeed) is Japan's dominant recruiting incumbent, already running the same free-to-seeker, employer-paid model as Wantedly, while BizReach competes directly for the premium/executive job-switching segment as of early 2026.

Who owns Wantedly, Inc.?

Wantedly is an independent, publicly traded company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market under ticker 3991, founded by Akiko Naka in September 2010; no parent company, private equity owner, or acquirer has been reported as of July 2026.

What is Wantedly Hire and is it working?

Wantedly Hire is the company's applicant-tracking-system product, launched October 2024 in Japan and Singapore; as of November 2025 it was still being pushed via a free 6-month startup trial program, with paid-conversion and retention data not yet publicly confirmed.

Is Wantedly stock a good investment in 2026?

Wantedly's shares were down about 9.3% over the trailing year as of April 13, 2026, and SimplyWall.st's analyst consensus from April 20, 2026 forecasts earnings declining roughly 6% per year over three years despite expected revenue growth near 6.2% per year.

Job boards and HR platforms · Japan

Wantedly, Inc.

wantedlyinc.com ↗

Japanese job-matching platform connecting companies and job seekers through profiles, not resumes.

Losing its protection

Assessed 26 July 2026 · Evidence as of 26 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 26 July 2026 · Checkable from around October 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: FY2026 Q2 financial results, showing whether revenue contraction reverses and Wantedly Hire gains paying customers

The call

A profitable business with a real network is now shrinking on top and margin, with its new ATS product still running on free trials as AI reshapes the hiring workflow it sells into.

Wantedly connects job seekers and companies in Japan through a social networking platform and recently launched a new hiring tool called Wantedly Hire. The company is struggling because giant competitors like Recruit (which owns Indeed) and LinkedIn have far more resources and reach, and artificial intelligence is making it easier for any company to do the matching and messaging that Wantedly specializes in, so those tasks are becoming less valuable. The key question is whether Wantedly Hire can attract paying customers and keep them after free trials end, because if it cannot, the company will keep losing money and market share.

Why

AI pressure: AI-native ATS and matching tools. Generative AI now drafts job posts and screens candidates itself, eating the scout-messaging and content work Wantedly built its platform on. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: Recruit Holdings (Rikunabi, Indeed). Recruit already runs Japan's biggest job platforms and can bolt on culture-fit matching features Wantedly relies on for its edge. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. A two-sided base of about 44,000 companies and 4 million users that took years to build and isn't trivial to replicate overnight.

What would change this call

FY2026 Q2 results (~Oct 2026) show revenue growth or continued contraction. Reveals whether Wantedly's core Visit business is stabilizing or losing ground.
Wantedly Hire free-trial cohort converts to paying, retained customers. Shows whether the new ATS product creates real lock-in or stays a cash sink.
Registered company count (~44k) rises, holds, or falls in coming quarterly filings. Indicates whether the two-sided network base is stable or eroding.

Key numbers

Revenue down 3% YoY to Y1.184B in FY2026 Q1 (2025-11-30)
Operating profit down 23% YoY to Y335M (2025-11-30)
Registered companies grew to about 44,000 (2025-11-30)

Named risks

Revenue contracted 3% YoY and operating profit fell 23% YoY in FY2026 Q1 (Nov 30, 2025). Severity: high
Generative AI commoditizing culture-content, matching, and scout-messaging workflows core to the product. Severity: high
Wantedly Hire ATS still relies on free trials with unproven paid-conversion and retention. Severity: medium
Analyst consensus forecasts earnings declining ~6% per year over three years. Severity: medium
Network moat is distribution-based, not structural, and replicable by Recruit, LinkedIn, or BizReach. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Recruit Holdings (Rikunabi, Indeed)	gaining on	Same free-to-seeker, employer-paid model already at national scale as of 2026
BizReach	gaining on	Taking premium and executive job-switching segment with real share, per Jan 2026 coverage
LinkedIn	contesting	Frequently compared head-to-head with Wantedly in Japan HR commentary through 2023-2026
Generative AI recruiting tools	gaining on	72% of HR professionals used AI tools in 2025, up from 58% in 2024

Questions people ask

Is Wantedly profitable in 2026?: Wantedly posted FY2025 net profit of ¥1.08 billion (EPS ¥114.04) for the year ended Aug 31, 2025, but FY2026 Q1 (Nov 30, 2025) operating profit fell 23% YoY to ¥335 million on revenue of ¥1.184 billion, down 3% YoY, showing the company is still profitable but margins are compressing.
Could AI replace Wantedly's core service?: AI adoption among HR professionals hit 72% in 2025 per Staffing Industry Analysts, and Wantedly's culture-content, matching, and scout-messaging workflows overlap directly with generative AI recruiting tools, though its 44,000-company, 4M-user network built by Nov 2025 offers some buffer against pure AI substitution.
Who is Wantedly's biggest competitor?: Recruit Holdings (Rikunabi, Indeed) is Japan's dominant recruiting incumbent, already running the same free-to-seeker, employer-paid model as Wantedly, while BizReach competes directly for the premium/executive job-switching segment as of early 2026.
Who owns Wantedly, Inc.?: Wantedly is an independent, publicly traded company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market under ticker 3991, founded by Akiko Naka in September 2010; no parent company, private equity owner, or acquirer has been reported as of July 2026.
What is Wantedly Hire and is it working?: Wantedly Hire is the company's applicant-tracking-system product, launched October 2024 in Japan and Singapore; as of November 2025 it was still being pushed via a free 6-month startup trial program, with paid-conversion and retention data not yet publicly confirmed.
Is Wantedly stock a good investment in 2026?: Wantedly's shares were down about 9.3% over the trailing year as of April 13, 2026, and SimplyWall.st's analyst consensus from April 20, 2026 forecasts earnings declining roughly 6% per year over three years despite expected revenue growth near 6.2% per year.

Timeline

2025-11-30FY2026 Q1: revenue ¥1.184B down 3% YoY, operating profit ¥335M down 23% YoY
2025-11-18Launched Wantedly Hire Startup Program offering ATS free for 6 months
2025-10-10FY2025 results reported: net profit ¥1.08B, EPS ¥114.04
2025-08-31FY2025 fiscal year end: operating revenue ¥4.91B, headcount 135
2024-10-11Entered ATS market with Wantedly Hire, launched in Japan and Singapore
2022-04-01Transitioned listing to TSE Growth market
2017-09-14IPO on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market
2012-02Wantedly service officially launched
2010-09Company founded by Akiko Naka

Revision history

26 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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