Seven & I Holdings’ move toward selling a stake to SoftBank and PayPay signals a willingness to surrender some control over its future in return for the benefits of being allied with key strategic partners.
The retailer is mulling a new share issuance totaling several hundred billion yen to SoftBank and PayPay, which is 91AV原创 dominant payments operator, people familiar with the matter said last week. Seven & I shares rose less than 1% in early morning trading in Tokyo on Monday.
The move would allow all three companies to capture more of consumers’ wallets, and help Seven & I to spur faster profit growth at its convenience stores. But it would mark an end to Seven & I’s long-held policy of staying fiercely independent by eschewing capital tie-ups and maximizing tactical flexibility. While the company has entered into several business partnerships, its reluctance to sell equity stakes — a bid to retain a free hand in a fast-evolving business — has kept it from achieving greater economies of scale in areas such as payment infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
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