Starbucks is weighing a stake sale or IPO of its Japanese business

Early-stage conversations with investment banks have taken place as the company seeks to map out a direction for its Japan operations, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, who asked not to be named given the private nature of the discussions. Potential buyers, including private equity firms and strategic industry players, could be drawn to a transaction that people familiar put at somewhere between 400 billion yen and 500 billion yen in value, or roughly $2.5 billion to $3.1 billion. No final decisions have been made, the people said.

Starbucks declined to comment.

With a footprint of roughly 2,100 stores, Japan ranks among the company's most significant international markets. Starbucks' most recent annual report counted 1,883 locations in the country as of September 2025, representing close to 9% of its worldwide store network. The Japan unit was fully absorbed into Starbucks' corporate structure after Sazaby League sold its stake back to the chain in 2014; Starbucks subsequently removed the subsidiary from Japanese stock exchange listings the following year.

The potential move follows Starbucks' sale of a 60% stake in its China retail operations to Boyu Capital, which closed in April and valued those operations at $4 billion. Taken together, the China transaction and the deliberations over Japan suggest the company is reconfiguring its international structure around partnerships that require less direct ownership, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said.

At the company's April earnings call, Niccol described the quarter as "outstanding" for Japan, pointing to a surge in New Year's foot traffic, healthy tourism numbers, and the momentum of recently introduced products. Second-quarter results showed a 6.2% year-over-year gain in global comparable store sales — the company's best such reading in roughly two and a half years.

Investors would likely welcome efforts to unlock value from the Japan operations, said Edward Lewis of Rothschild & Co Redburn, who also noted that the unit does not currently occupy a central role in how markets assess the company's overall story, according to Reuters.

Starbucks stock was up about 1% in early trading Wednesday.