Page 48 - Forbes - Asia (April 2019)
P. 48
Japan’s 50 Richest
EDITED BY KERRY A. DOLAN
A Mixed Bag
Fortunes fell for most of Japan’s richest, but a few bucked the trend.
sensors firm, Keyence, has witnessed steady
growth in China, where its sensors are used
to monitor the performance of machines and
robots in factories.
Nobutada Saji and family registered the
biggest drop in net worth, falling $7.2 billion
to an estimated $10.8 billion. Part of the
decline resulted in new information clarify-
ing that some of the Suntory stake previously
attributed to the Saji family is owned by chari-
table entities and thus excluded from their net
worth. The Saji fortune was further weighed
down by weakness in global beer sales.
Four newcomers join the list. Takahisa
Takahara debuts with a $5.2 billion fortune
after he and his two siblings inherited the
Masayoshi Son family stake in diaper firm Unicharm; his
father Keiichiro, who founded the company,
died at age 87 in October 2018. Takahisa has
t was a mixed year for Japan’s superrich. Despite a 5% been running Unicharm as CEO since 2001. Other newcom-
uptick in the Nikkei index, 31 of the 50 list members ers include Shintaro Yamada, whose online auction firm
have smaller fortunes than a year ago. Altogether the Mercari went public in June 2018; Masaaki Arai, founder of
Icountry’s 50 wealthiest are worth $178 billion, down Tokyo-listed real estate firm Open House; and Toshio Mo-
from $186 billion a year ago. toya, founder of budget hotel chain APA Group.
Last year’s No. 1, Masayoshi Son, fell to second place Notable drop-offs include Yoshiko Shinohara, Japan’s first
despite gains in SoftBank stock that lifted his fortune by self-made female billionaire. Shares of Persol Holdings, the
$2.1 billion to $24 billion. Son was outpaced by Tadashi temporary staffing company she founded, lost more than
Yanai, founder of Fast Retailing, parent of clothing chain a third of their value in the past year. A 50% plunge in the
Uniqlo, who moved back into the top spot for the first time shares of robot maker Cyberdyne knocked founder Yoshiyuki
since 2016. Yanai was the biggest gainer in dollar terms, add- Sankai from the ranks.
ing $5.6 billion to his wealth since last year to $24.9 billion.
Son has made headlines for the big bets that his $100 bil- Reporting by James Simms with Angel Au-Yeung and
lion SoftBank Vision Fund has been making. The Vision Fund Chloe Sorvino.
has raised $45 billion from Saudi Arabia‘s Public Investment
Fund, plus smaller amounts reportedly from Abu Dhabi’s METHODOLOGY
Mubadala fund, Apple, Qualcomm and Oracle’s billionaire The list was compiled using information from the individuals, stock exchanges,
analysts, company filings and other sources. Net worths were based on stock
cofounder Larry Ellison, among others.
prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on March 22, 2019. Private KIYOSHI OTA/BLOOMBERG
Another gainer this year was Takemitsu Takizaki, whose companies were valued by using financial ratios and other comparisons with
fortune rose $1 billion to $18.6 billion, making him the third similar publicly traded companies. Fortunes often include assets owned by
other family members.
richest on the list, up from No. 4 last year. His Tokyo-listed
44 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019
