Hatena Co., Ltd. FY2026 Full-Year Financial Results Deep-Dive Analysis Report

1. Executive Summary

Hatena Co., Ltd.'s financial results for the fiscal year ending July 2026 showed a robust performance in core profitability, with operating profit reaching 173 million yen (153% of the earnings forecast) , significantly exceeding the revised year-end guidance. However, due to an extraordinary loss of 1,179 million yen recorded in connection with a fund outflow incident in April 2026, the company reported a net loss of 995 million yen .

Net sales were 3,647 million yen (100% of the earnings forecast) , remaining largely flat (+1% year-on-year). By business segment, the flagship SaaS server monitoring service "Mackerel" returned to growth, up 4% year-on-year, driven by the expansion of its APM (Application Performance Monitoring) features. The manga viewer "GigaViewer" also saw steady growth in the number of media outlets adopting both its app and web versions. Furthermore, the company has laid the groundwork for new revenue pillars, including the commencement of revenue recognition from partnerships with generative AI vendors in July 2026 , leveraging its high-quality UGC (User Generated Content) data.

As indicated in the summary above, operating profit significantly exceeded plans due to successful cost-containment measures, such as thorough optimization of personnel allocation and infrastructure expenses. However, the primary challenge remains the substantial extraordinary loss resulting from the fund outflow incident caused by deficiencies in the governance structure. This report provides a detailed analysis of the company's fundamentals, growth trends in each segment, the transformation of the business model in the era of generative AI, and the progress of governance reforms.

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2. Overview and Impact of the Fund Outflow Incident and Governance Strengthening for Recurrence Prevention

Background and Impact on Performance

In April 2026, a fund outflow incident occurred when an employee was misled by a special fraud group posing as police officials, resulting in unauthorized remittances. Consequently, an extraordinary loss of 1,179 million yen —the maximum amount of the damage—was recorded for the fiscal year, leading to a significant net loss. Following an investigation in accordance with third-party committee guidelines, it was confirmed that no leakage of personal or customer information occurred . To clarify management responsibility, the Representative Director and President and the Director of the Corporate Division voluntarily returned 20% of their executive compensation for six months.

Recurrence Prevention Measures and Future Recovery Policy

To prevent recurrence, the company has formulated and is implementing a fundamental review of internal controls, focusing on the following five areas:

1. Strengthening Internal Controls for Fund Transfers and Withdrawals : Mandatory multi-stage approval workflows and verification of supporting documents, complete separation of application and approval authority in online banking, and the introduction of minimized limits and automated notifications.
2. Visualization of Accounting Operations and Establishment of Proper Segregation of Duties : Eliminating reliance on specific individuals through the development of operational manuals and preventing the concentration of authority.
3. Enhancement of Information Security Management and Employee Training : Restrictions on remote desktop tools, security hardening of terminals handling funds, and continuous training on special fraud tactics.
4. Strengthening Internal Audit and Governance Systems : Establishing a dedicated team, utilizing external experts, and strengthening coordination with the Board of Corporate Auditors and accounting auditors.
5. Establishment of Continuous Monitoring and Reporting Systems : Progress monitoring by the Compliance and Risk Committee.

The company is pursuing recovery of the damages through procedures based on the Act on Payment of Money for the Relief of Victims of Remittance Fraud. If recovery is realized, it is expected to be recorded as extraordinary income in the relevant accounting period in a timely and appropriate manner .

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3. Detailed Performance and KPI Trends by Segment

① Technology Solution Services (Net Sales: 2,780 million yen / -2% YoY)

Technology Solution Services account for 76% of the company's total sales and represent its core business.

• Contracted Services (GigaViewer, etc.) : Net sales were 2,025 million yen (-4% YoY) . While stock revenue from existing media has steadily accumulated, the decline was due to the completion of large-scale new development projects seen in the previous fiscal year. However, the company fully achieved its initial target of 4 new adoptions for "GigaViewer for Apps" (e.g., "Kujira Punch," "Zenon Plus"), and the web version was introduced to 3 new media outlets ("Ichijin Plus," "COMIC Y-OURS," "Manga Time Square"), expanding the base to 18 companies and 27 services.
• Full-scale Launch of Marketing Solution "Comic Growth powered by GigaViewer" :

As shown in this slide, the company has launched "Comic Growth powered by GigaViewer," which goes beyond providing viewer systems to comprehensively support the customer acquisition and growth of manga services. The company plans to capture hundreds of millions of yen in annual advertising budget management by providing one-stop support for digital ad operations, from awareness expansion to reader acquisition, app installs, and ad effectiveness verification. Through this, the company aims to expand continuous revenue-sharing and operational income, independent of the temporary fluctuations in contract development.

• SaaS Server Monitoring Service "Mackerel" : Net sales reached 755 million yen (+4% YoY) , achieving a turnaround in growth. The continuously enhanced APM features served as a hook for acquiring new customers and contributed to reducing churn among existing clients. Amid discussions on structural changes in the SaaS market due to the spread of generative AI, the company positions Mackerel as "an infrastructure monitoring service for servers and software, not just a business improvement tool; therefore, demand for monitoring will not be undermined by the progress of generative AI, but rather benefit from the increasing complexity of infrastructure."

② Content Marketing Services (Net Sales: 541 million yen / -13% YoY)

• Operational Trends of "Hatena CMS" : "Hatena CMS," which supports corporate owned media and website construction, was significantly impacted by changes in the content production environment due to the rise of generative AI and cost-cutting reviews of web marketing budgets by client companies. Although 21 new accounts were acquired, the number of cancellations increased to 26, resulting in 147 accounts in operation at the end of the period (-5 from the previous year-end) , with an annual churn rate rising to 18% (9% in the previous year) . Average monthly revenue per account also fell to 242,000 yen. The company plans to review low-profit operations and reallocate resources to high-growth areas.
• Research Support SaaS "toitta" : The AI-powered interview analysis SaaS "toitta" continues to grow steadily. Following the acquisition of ISMS certification in September 2025, the company officially released a new feature, "ask toitta," in January 2026, which allows AI to extract insights and evidence from interviews. The company aims to evolve this into a platform that supports everything from research design and execution (AI interviews) to assetization, with a goal of reaching 100 million yen in ARR .

③ Content Platform Services (Net Sales: 319 million yen / -3% YoY)

• Hatena Blog & Hatena Bookmark Base : The number of registered users grew steadily, reaching 13.28 million (+1.2% growth rate compared to the end of the first half) . Despite efforts to improve ad network revenue, the company could not offset the downward trend in ad unit prices across the entire ad-tech market, resulting in a slight decline in revenue.
• Generative AI-Friendly Strategy and Data Integration Progress :

The slide above illustrates the "value of UGC in the generative AI era," which is critical to the company's medium-to-long-term growth. The company believes that the strengths of "Hatena Blog" and "Hatena CMS," which are designed with SEO in mind, remain effective even against the spread of generative AI search (Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, etc.). Furthermore, the company has focused on the fact that the value of real, first-hand user information and experiences is increasing dramatically for "RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)," which AI uses to derive accurate answers. Leveraging its vast accumulated text data, the company began partnerships with select generative AI vendors and started recognizing revenue in July 2026 . Additionally, the discussion forum "Hatena Parks" was officially released in August 2026 as a place to generate new primary information.

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4. Cost Structure and Optimization of Personnel

Total expenses for the full year were 1,738 million yen (+1.3% YoY) , keeping cost increases to a minimum while continuing investments for business expansion.

• Personnel Expenses (+0.6% YoY) : As a result of promoting the internal use of AI tools, reallocating talent to appropriate positions, and curbing hiring, the number of employees at the end of the period was 213 (-15 against the initial plan of 228, -4 from the previous year-end) , achieving a leaner structure. The optimization of bonus provisions in line with performance trends also contributed.
• Data Center Costs (-2.0% YoY) : Despite the increased infrastructure load due to the rise in media using GigaViewer, the company achieved a year-on-year decrease by continuously promoting cloud cost optimization measures.
• Other Expenses (+2.8% YoY) : While advertising expenses increased due to the expansion of support for publisher DX (Comic Growth), the company kept growth at a low level by reducing outsourcing and subcontracting costs following the completion of development demand cycles.

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5. Future Growth Strategy and Conclusion

Although Hatena faced a serious governance challenge in the fiscal year ending July 2026 due to the fund outflow incident, forcing a net loss, it was a year in which structural reforms and the cultivation of new growth drivers progressed in its core business.

Future business policy will focus on the following three pillars:

1. Vertical and Horizontal Expansion of Publisher DX : Diversifying revenue sources through the expansion of GigaViewer adoptions and "Comic Growth," which manages annual marketing budgets of several hundred million yen.
2. Symbiosis of UGC Assets and Generative AI : Accelerating data monetization through expanded alliances with generative AI vendors and creating high-quality primary information communities through "Hatena Parks" and other initiatives.
3. Scaling the SaaS Business : Focusing resources on "Mackerel," which has resumed stable growth in infrastructure monitoring, and "toitta," which aims for 100 million yen in ARR in the research field.

While rebuilding governance through thorough recurrence prevention measures and restoring stakeholder trust, the company is expected to achieve sustainable corporate value enhancement by leveraging its robust technology foundation and unique UGC data.