Page 54 - Forbes - Asia (April 2019)

Japan’s 50 Richest

THE LIST

44.
HIROSHI
ISHIBASHI
$1.02 BILLION T
BRIDGESTONE
AGE: 72

45.
HIROSHI OKURA
$1 BILLION T
NOEVIR HOLDINGS
AGE: 82

46.
KENJI KASAHARA
$990 MILLION T
MIXI
AGE: 43

KENJI KASAHARA
47. overtake Facebook, Mixi doubled its IPO
NOBUTOSHI Mixi’s Mixed price on its first day of trading, leaving it with
SHIMAMURA a $1.9 billion market capitalization.
$985 MILLION T Record Mixi, however, gradually lost market share
SHIMAMURA to rivals Facebook, Twitter and Line, prompt-
AGE: 93
FALLING SALES of his company Mixi’s ing the company to shift into new businesses,
game Monster Strike combined with ticket including online dating, photo-sharing and
48. and trademark scandals cost Kenji Kasahara apartment listings. It struck gold when it
YOSHIKAZU entered gaming in 2013 and released Monster
TANAKA $510 million of his fortune in the past year,
$980 MILLION T dropping him to a net worth of $990 million. Strike. It still ranks as one of the most profit-
GREE The problem started in 2017 when allega- able mobile games in history, with 49 million
AGE: 42 tions emerged that independent sellers on downloads and more than $7.2 billion in
Mixi subsidiary Ticket Camp had illegally re- worldwide revenue, according to mobile app
49. sold concert tickets on its site. The site, which researcher Sensor Tower.
MASAAKI ARAI was said to have also violated trademarks, Yet Mixi could not keep up in the fast-
$930 MILLION Ì was shut down in May 2018; its president paced online gaming industry, and Monster
OPEN HOUSE resigned the following month, and was re- Strike has ebbed in popularity. Mixi’s sales
AGE:54
placed. Kasahara hasn’t been implicated and declined 22% to 106 billion yen ($960 mil-
remains Mixi’s chairman. lion) in the nine months ended December
50. The company said in an emailed state- 31, 2018, compared with the same period
HAJIME SATOMI
$900 MILLION T ment written in Japanese that Forbes Asia the year before; profits over the same period
SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS translated: “Our company is not aware of dropped 32% to 17 billion yen.
AGE:77 any illegality in the Ticket Camp business. While Mixi’s stock languishes, the com-
However, we set up a third-party committee pany has plans to turn Monster Strike into an
which indicated that there might be reputa- eSports game to tap the growing popularity of
tional risk [in such ventures].” sports-based games. “As the company contin-
Kasahara founded Mixi in 2004 as a social ues to expand its touch points with Monster
SUP TDOWN WXFLAT networking site and it went public in Tokyo Strike fans as well as broadening its user
ÌNEW TO LIST 3RETURNEE
two years later, turning then 30-year-old base, it could get better at managing revenue
Kasahara into a billionaire overnight and one declines over the medium term, while poten-
of the youngest people on the 2007 Japan tially producing a sales recovery in the long YURIKO NAKAO/REUTERS
FOR MORE INFO, GO TO rich list. With its unique privacy and sharing term,” noted a report by equity research firm
FORBES.COM/JAPAN features convincing many investors it could Pelham Smithers Associates. —Grace Chung

50 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019