Owner Scorecard
An independent research publication · data as of July 9, 2026

← Japan catalog ← 4661 Manual 4704 → Interactive Media & Platforms 4751 →

4689 · LY Corporation

Internet platforms Asset-light compounder IFRS
Latest filing: FY2026 annual securities report (有価証券報告書) · EDINET

This is a quantitative scorecard. The numbers below are read directly from LY Corporation’s EDINET filing, in yen. The Japanese-language narrative, what the business does, its risks, what changed this year, is not machine-read here, so we do not paraphrase it. Find it on EDINET (code 4689) →

Where the money comes from

on EDINET →

The largest slice of sales is Commerce at 42%, but the profit engine is Media: 36% of revenue and 58% of segment operating profit.

Revenue by reportable segment, FY2026
Operating profit same segments
  • Commerce42%¥857.6B24% of profit
  • Media36%¥735.2B58% of profit
  • Stragegy22%¥445.8B19% of profit

From the segment footnote of the company's own annual securities report. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

I

The record

What the business has done across the cycle, read straight from the EDINET filing: the multi-year record, and the walk from reported profit to the cash an owner could take out.

The record, 2017–2026

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’252026’26
Income statement
¥853.7B¥897.2B¥954.7B¥1.05T¥1.21T¥1.57T¥1.67T¥1.81T¥1.92T¥2.04TRevenueRevenue
———60%64%———72%74%Gross marginGross mgn
———44%49%———56%60%SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
¥185.0B¥185.8B¥140.5B¥152.3B¥162.1B¥189.5B¥314.5B¥208.2B¥315.0B¥341.3BOperating incomeOp. inc.
21.7%20.7%14.7%14.5%13.4%12.1%18.8%11.5%16.4%16.8%Operating marginOp. mgn
¥136.6B¥131.2B¥78.7B¥81.7B¥70.1B¥77.3B¥178.9B¥113.2B¥153.5B¥193.7BNet incomeNet inc.
Cash flow & returns
¥127.0B¥75.5B¥150.0B¥241.6B¥207.9B¥266.3B¥93.1B¥316.5B¥519.6B¥662.9BOperating cash flowOp. cash
—¥44.4B¥52.5B¥83.4B¥102.1B¥135.7B¥148.8B¥162.9B¥159.9B¥176.4BDepreciationDeprec.
(¥9.6B)(¥100.1B)¥18.8B¥76.5B¥35.7B¥53.3B(¥234.6B)¥40.4B¥200.5B¥290.1BWorking capital & otherWC & other
—¥43.3B¥41.8B¥34.4B¥28.6B¥51.8B¥92.8B¥71.0B¥99.7B—CapexCapex
—4.8%4.4%3.3%2.4%3.3%5.6%3.9%5.2%—Capex / revenueCapex/rev
—¥32.2B¥108.2B¥207.2B¥179.3B¥214.5B¥209M¥245.5B¥419.9B—Owner earningsOwner earn.
—3.6%11.3%19.7%14.9%13.7%0.0%13.5%21.9%—Owner earnings marginOE mgn
—¥32.2B¥108.2B¥207.2B¥179.3B¥214.5B¥209M¥245.5B¥419.9B—Free cash flowFCF
—3.6%11.3%19.7%14.9%13.7%0.0%13.5%21.9%—Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
¥50.4B¥50.4B¥50.5B¥45.0B¥42.2B¥42.2B¥43.6B¥41.9B¥41.7B¥49.9BDividends paidDiv. paid
—¥0¥221.0B¥526.6B¥2M¥68.3B¥16.4B¥0¥150.1B¥148.7BBuybacksBuybacks
26%59%28%17%5%6%11%6%8%9%ROICROIC
15%13%10%11%3%3%6%4%5%6%Return on equityROE
9%8%3%5%1%1%5%2%4%5%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
¥393.3B¥868.3B¥546.8B¥880.1B¥1.07T¥1.13T¥1.65T¥1.42T¥1.04T¥1.07TCash & investmentsCash+inv
¥71.6B¥65.2B¥67.3B¥1.2B¥502M¥526M¥479M¥114.1B¥110.0B¥101.2BReceivablesReceiv.
¥260M¥202M¥164M———————InventoryInvent.
¥71.9B¥65.4B¥67.5B¥1.2B¥502M¥526M¥479M¥114.1B¥110.0B¥101.2BOperating working capitalOper. WC
¥594.6B¥663.0B¥426.4B¥271.1B¥236.9B¥559.5B¥416.8B¥688.3B¥626.8B¥592.6BCurrent assetsCur. assets
¥166.7B¥190.1B¥223.0B¥478.2B¥202.1B¥490.3B¥443.8B¥810.6B¥824.3B¥751.7BCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
3.6×3.5×1.9×0.6×1.2×1.1×0.9×0.8×0.8×0.8×Current ratioCurr. ratio
¥580M¥162.0B¥175.3B¥400.0B¥1.78T¥1.79T¥2.07T¥2.07T¥2.07T¥2.19TGoodwillGoodwill
¥1.53T¥2.52T¥2.43T¥3.93T¥6.70T¥7.11T¥8.59T¥9.04T¥9.16T¥11.21TTotal assetsAssets
¥35.0B¥105.0B¥125.0B¥810.5B¥767.4B¥941.6B¥958.1B¥989.5B¥1.00T¥1.08TTotal debtDebt
(¥358.3B)(¥763.3B)(¥421.8B)(¥69.6B)(¥298.3B)(¥185.9B)(¥693.7B)(¥430.9B)(¥40.1B)¥12.7BNet debt / (cash)Net debt
———146.6×55.8×67.2×74.3×38.4×43.1×31.7×Interest coverageInt. cov.
¥930.8B¥1.01T¥818.3B¥771.5B¥2.68T¥2.68T¥2.92T¥3.04T¥3.00T¥3.00TShareholders’ equityEquity
Per share
8.54B8.55B7.73B7.23B7.66B7.60B7.63B7.64B7.15B6.88BShares out (diluted)Shares
¥99.93¥104.99¥123.55¥145.56¥157.52¥206.34¥219.08¥237.61¥268.02¥295.80Revenue / shareRev/sh
¥15.99¥15.35¥10.18¥11.29¥9.16¥10.18¥23.43¥14.82¥21.45¥28.14EPS (diluted)EPS
—¥3.76¥14.00¥28.65¥23.43¥28.24¥0.03¥32.14¥58.69—Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
—¥3.76¥14.00¥28.65¥23.43¥28.24¥0.03¥32.14¥58.69—Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
¥5.90¥5.90¥6.53¥6.23¥5.51¥5.56¥5.71¥5.48¥5.83¥7.24Dividends / shareDiv/sh
—¥5.07¥5.41¥4.75¥3.73¥6.82¥12.16¥9.30¥13.94—Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
¥108.95¥118.59¥105.89¥106.66¥350.39¥353.39¥382.45¥397.68¥419.08¥435.60Book value / shareBVPS

Share counts before 2021 are restated ×1.5 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
9-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+12.8%/yr+13.4%/yr
Owner earnings / share+48.0%/yr (7-yr)+15.4%/yr
EPS+6.5%/yr+25.2%/yr
Dividends / share+2.3%/yr+5.6%/yr
Capital spending / share+15.6%/yr (7-yr)+24.0%/yr
Book value / share+16.6%/yr+4.4%/yr

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, EDINET →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business turned ¥153.5B of profit into ¥419.9B of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.

Reported net income¥153.5B
Owner earnings¥419.9B · 22% of revenue
FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Reported net income¥153.5B¥113.2B¥178.9B¥77.3B¥70.1B
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+¥159.9B+¥162.9B+¥148.8B+¥135.7B+¥102.1B
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost+¥5.8B————
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items+¥200.5B+¥40.4B−¥234.6B+¥53.3B+¥35.7B
Cash from operations¥519.6B¥316.5B¥93.1B¥266.3B¥207.9B
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow−¥99.7B−¥71.0B−¥92.8B−¥51.8B−¥28.6B
Owner earnings¥419.9B¥245.5B¥209M¥214.5B¥179.3B
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue22%14%0%14%15%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position . The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less ¥5.8B), owner earnings is nearer ¥414.1B.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

II

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, and stewardship. The same checks the US pages run, in yen.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2026 Annual securities report · source on EDINET →

Will it survive?

  • Can it pay its interest? 31.7×
    Comfortable
    Operating income ¥341.3B ÷ interest expense ¥10.8B
    What this means

    Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.

  • How heavy is the debt, net of cash? ¥12.7B · 0.0× operating profit
    Modest net debt
    Cash ¥1.07T − debt ¥1.08T
    What this means

    Netting ¥1.07T of cash and short-term investments against ¥1.08T of debt leaves ¥12.7B owed, about 0.0× a year's operating profit (3.2× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • How long is cash tied up? —
    Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

  • Return on invested capital 9%
    Solid through the cycle
    10-yr median, range 5%–59%; 9% latest = NOPAT ¥269.6B ÷ invested capital ¥3.01T
    Industry peers: median 21%
    What this means

    The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran 9% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.

  • Owner-earnings margin —
    Not enough data
    Industry peers: median 36%
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Are earnings backed by cash? 3.42×
    Cash-backed
    Cash from ops ¥662.9B ÷ net income ¥193.7B
    What this means

    How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

  • Where do the earnings go? —
    Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Investing or harvesting? —
    Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Durability & moat, 2017–2026

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

  • Profitable years 10 of 10
    What this means

    Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.

  • Return on capital ≥ 15% 4 of 10 yrs
    What this means

    A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.

  • Operating margin 19% → 15% (3-yr avg ends)
    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 19% early to 15% lately, median 15% — competition or costs are biting in.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 4%
    What this means

    Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.

  • Owner earnings growth +25%/yr
    What this means

    Owner earnings grew about 25% a year over the record.

  • Worst year 2024 · 11.5% op. margin
    What this means

    Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.

  • Share count +2.1%/yr
    What this means

    The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.

  • Dividend record paid
    What this means

    Paid a dividend in 10 of the years on record.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

How the cash was used, 2018–2025

Over the record, the business generated ¥1.87T of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash returner, paying most of what it earns straight back to owners.

  • Reinvested¥463.4B · 25%
  • Dividends¥357.5B · 19%
  • Buybacks¥982.4B · 53%
  • Retained (debt / cash)¥67.0B · 4%
  • Returned to owners¥1.34T

    95% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, ¥357.5B as dividends and ¥982.4B as buybacks.

  • Source of fundingOperating cash

    Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span debt rose ¥898.8B and cash and short-term investments rose ¥175.6B.

  • Average price paid for buybacks—

    Buybacks ran ¥982.4B over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.

  • Net change in share count−16.3%

    The diluted count fell from 8545M to 7154M, so the buybacks outran the stock issued to staff.

  • Dividend record¥5.83/sh

    Paid in 8 of the years on record, the per-share dividend shrinking about 0% a year. It was cut at least once along the way.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why LY Corporation is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2017–2026.

1 of the 5 tests turned up something to look into; the other 4 came back clean.

  • Look hereDid debt outgrow the business?¥35.0B → ¥1.08T

    Debt rose from ¥35.0B to ¥1.08T while owner earnings went from about ¥115.9B to ¥221.8B — about 0.3 years of owner earnings in debt then, about 4.9 now: measured against what the business earns, the balance sheet carries more debt than it did. Debt raised for buybacks or deals rather than growth is the kind that bites in a downturn.

And these came back clean
  • Is it less profitable than it was?
  • Did the share count rise anyway?
  • Did reported profit become cash?
  • Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

III

The price

What a price would have to assume, set against the record above.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what LY Corporation has delivered.

LY Corporation’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.

¥

Through the cycle, LY Corporation earns about ¥277.1B on its 13.6% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s — margin runs above that; the reported figure may flatter a peak you'd be paying on. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year. It comes pre-checked here for that reason, the same rule that already normalizes a trough; clear it to price the year as filed.

Base

—

The assumptions

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—
Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+14%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’18→’25+25%/yr
Owner-earnings yield—
P/E (3-yr earnings ’24–’26)—
P/B—
Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Owner earnings — on 6884M diluted shares; net debt ¥12.7B. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits above the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh 4689 against another business →

Figures from EDINET, the Financial Services Agency’s disclosure system, the same kind of filing the US pages draw from EDGAR. A separate pool: these names never pass through the US industry classifier.

Manual order: ← 4661 its page in the Manual 4704 →

Industry order: the Interactive Media & Platforms chapter 4751 →