Companies Delisted from TSE in 2025 to Hit Record 125

Tokyo, Dec. 29 (Jiji Press)–The annual number of companies delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange is set to hit a record high for the second straight year in 2025, as the TSE’s reforms have prompted listed companies to reconsider the advantages of remaining public. The 2025 total is expected to increase by 31 from the previous year to 125, the highest figure since the 2013 stock market integration between the TSE and the then Osaka Securities Exchange. Among delisting cases, management buyouts increased markedly. According to Recof Corp., a Tokyo-based merger and acquisition advisory firm, 28 companies had announced management buyouts in 2025 as of the end of November, up sharply from 18 in the previous year. In 2022, the TSE tightened its listing criteria when it reorganized its market sections. In 2023, the exchange urged listed companies to conduct management with a focus on capital efficiencies and stock prices to continue raising their corporate value. As a result, the burden of remaining a listed company has increased, including the obligation to disclose information proactively. Companies must also pay more attention to shareholder returns, partly in response to activist shareholders. “More companies are questioning the cost-effectiveness of the advantages of being a listed company, such as funding and credibility,” said Atsushi Kamio of Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. The number of companies listed on the TSE is expected to fall by 60 from a year earlier to 3,782 at the end of 2025, partly reflecting a decrease in new listings. “We would like to focus on the quality (of listed companies), not the number of listed companies,” said Hiromi Yamaji, chief executive of Japan Exchange Group Inc., the parent company of the TSE operator. After the transitional measures for companies that did not meet the listing criteria ended in March 2025, the number of delisted companies is likely to remain high in 2026. “Improved market metabolism is expected to make it easier for growth-oriented companies to obtain funds from investors,” Kamio said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]