Hiroshi Mikitani
Tokyo, Japan
Master of Business Administration, Harvard University
Japan
online retail, Self Made
$6,500,000,000
379
#5 Japan's 50 Richest 2019
#379 Billionaires 2019
Mikitani is founder and CEO of Rakuten, Japan's biggest e-commerce retailer.In 2017 he struck multi-year sponsorship deals worth $120 million with two sports teams: NBA's Golden State Warriors and soccer team FC Barcelona.In 2016 Rakuten shut down retail operations in the U.K., Austria and Spain.In 2015, Rakuten invested $300 million in ride-sharing firm Lyft, an Uber competitor, and Mikitani joined Lyft's board.Rakuten spent $900 million in 2014 to buy messaging service Viber, which competes with Facebook's WhatsApp.
In 2010, he led an "Englishnization" campaign at Rakuten, making English the company's official internal language in an effort to improve employees' English. His nickname is "Mickey."
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