The joint holding company with NTT Docomo, and Monex Securities as an equity-method affiliate (2023)

The price of independence, set by the buyer

The valuation of ¥97 billion reflects the character of this decision. Monex Securities had net assets of ¥48.6 billion and net income of ¥2.6 billion, and could not follow the move to zero commissions. That it was nonetheless valued at close to twice net assets appears to be because the price attached not to its record as a broker but to its position as something that could be offered to 96 million d-Point members. As chairman Matsumoto said, “for an online broker to survive, an alliance with a platform is unavoidable” — Monex Group acknowledged the end of the era of gathering accounts alone, and did so from the side of the price.

The year after it booked the ¥18.2 billion gain on the sale, an almost identical one-off cost stood on the opposite side. In the year to March 2025 the costs of listing the Coincheck group in the United States weighed in at roughly ¥18.2 billion, sinking the company to an operating loss of ¥4.6 billion. Against the ¥97 billion Docomo paid, what came back in the first year as equity-method profit was ¥1.98 billion. Referrals reached their largest-ever month for new account openings in January 2026, more than two years after the announcement. How far those referrals move that ratio has yet to appear in the figures.