Kao

Shareholders

Foreign ownership · FYE Dec 2025: 41.6%
Financial institutions: 33.9%
Other corporations: 4.7%
Individuals & others: 14.2%
Ten largest, combined: 37.4%
Shareholders: 131,570

Ownership mix Government Financial institutions Securities firms Other corporations Foreign corporations Foreign individuals Individuals & others

Share of the company held by each class of owner, as filed each year (%). The seven classes add up to the whole company.

Ownership by holder class, every year on record (%), 2019–2025. Scroll sideways for earlier years.
Fiscal year	Unit	2019 ^*1 FYE Dec	2020 ^*1 FYE Dec	2021 ^*1 FYE Dec	2022 ^*1 FYE Dec	2023 ^*1 FYE Dec	2024 ^*1 FYE Dec	2025 ^*1 FYE Dec
Government	%	—	—	—	0.0%	—	—	0.0%
Financial institutions	%	37.2%	39.0%	36.7%	36.6%	36.2%	34.8%	33.9%
Securities firms	%	3.8%	5.8%	7.5%	8.5%	7.8%	6.9%	5.6%
Other corporations	%	3.9%	4.0%	4.8%	4.8%	4.9%	4.8%	4.7%
Foreign corporations	%	44.4%	40.0%	37.6%	34.8%	35.6%	39.7%	41.6%
Foreign individuals	%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Individuals & others	%	10.7%	11.2%	13.4%	15.2%	15.5%	13.9%	14.2%
Shareholders	holders	50,728	64,013	105,319	133,825	144,398	128,584	131,570

*1 Securities report (yuka shoken hokokusho) — status of shares by holder category, as filed

Foreign ownership Foreign holders, combined Foreign corporations Foreign individuals

How much of the company sits with holders outside Japan (%). Almost all of it is institutional: overseas individuals rarely hold Japanese stock directly.

Foreign holdings by fiscal year (%), with the year-on-year move in percentage points.
Fiscal year	Unit	2019 ^*1 FYE Dec	2020 ^*1 FYE Dec	2021 ^*1 FYE Dec	2022 ^*1 FYE Dec	2023 ^*1 FYE Dec	2024 ^*1 FYE Dec	2025 ^*1 FYE Dec
Foreign holders, combined	%	44.4%	40.1%	37.7%	34.8%	35.6%	39.7%	41.6%
Change	pp	—	-4.3pp	-2.4pp	-2.9pp	+0.8pp	+4.1pp	+1.9pp
Foreign corporations	%	44.4%	40.0%	37.6%	34.8%	35.6%	39.7%	41.6%
Foreign individuals	%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Foreign corporate holders	holders	991	1,005	945	920	907	903	941

*1 Securities report (yuka shoken hokokusho) — status of shares by holder category, as filed

Concentration Ten largest, combined Largest holder

How much of the company the ten largest shareholders hold between them (%). Japanese filings list trust banks and custodians under their own names, so a single line here often stands for many underlying investors.

Combined stake of the ten largest shareholders, and of the single largest, by fiscal year (%).
Fiscal year	Unit	2015 ^*1 FYE Dec	2016 ^*1 FYE Dec	2017 ^*1 FYE Dec	2018 ^*1 FYE Dec	2019 ^*1 FYE Dec	2020 ^*1 FYE Dec	2021 ^*1 FYE Dec	2022 ^*1 FYE Dec	2023 ^*1 FYE Dec	2024 ^*1 FYE Dec	2025 ^*1 FYE Dec
Ten largest, combined	%	29.8%	28.8%	29.7%	32.2%	31.6%	33.5%	39.2%	39.9%	39.2%	38.7%	37.4%
Change	pp	—	-1.0pp	+0.9pp	+2.5pp	-0.6pp	+1.9pp	+5.7pp	+0.7pp	-0.7pp	-0.5pp	-1.3pp
Largest holder	%	6.8%	7.1%	7.8%	9.7%	10.0%	12.2%	18.3%	19.1%	18.9%	18.9%	18.4%

*1 Securities report (yuka shoken hokokusho) — ten largest shareholders, as filed

Holders and shares by class

The counts behind the percentages: how many shareholders sit in each class, and how much stock they hold. Shares are in trading units (tan'i) as filed — one unit is usually 100 shares.

Shareholder counts and holdings by class, every year on record. Treasury stock and odd-lot holdings are excluded, so the classes may not sum exactly to the issued total.
Fiscal year	Unit	2019 ^*1 FYE Dec	2020 ^*1 FYE Dec	2021 ^*1 FYE Dec	2022 ^*1 FYE Dec	2023 ^*1 FYE Dec	2024 ^*1 FYE Dec	2025 ^*1 FYE Dec
Government — holders	holders	—	—	—	1	—	—	1
Financial institutions — holders	holders	202	212	216	207	184	166	167
Securities firms — holders	holders	39	54	61	50	41	50	48
Other corporations — holders	holders	705	798	1,144	1,276	1,308	1,158	1,115
Foreign corporations — holders	holders	991	1,005	945	920	907	903	941
Foreign individuals — holders	holders	48	97	388	546	620	540	592
Individuals & others — holders	holders	48,743	61,847	102,565	130,825	141,338	125,767	128,706
All holders	holders	50,728	64,013	105,319	133,825	144,398	128,584	131,570
Government — shares	units	—	—	—	12	—	—	9
Financial institutions — shares	units	1,790,416	1,877,936	1,739,357	1,704,639	1,683,275	1,618,933	1,535,780
Securities firms — shares	units	181,911	277,143	357,186	393,573	361,692	318,771	252,718
Other corporations — shares	units	186,905	192,848	226,193	225,082	229,717	220,960	212,862
Foreign corporations — shares	units	2,140,035	1,927,970	1,786,314	1,618,830	1,654,466	1,844,962	1,881,198
Foreign individuals — shares	units	262	414	1,171	1,366	1,572	1,447	1,587
Individuals & others — shares	units	516,173	539,208	634,218	707,840	719,149	644,502	641,270
All shares	units	4,815,702	4,815,519	4,744,439	4,651,342	4,649,871	4,649,575	4,525,424

*1 Securities report (yuka shoken hokokusho) — status of shares by holder category, as filed

日本語版 — the named list of major shareholders → The ten largest holders are filed under their registered Japanese names — trust-bank omnibus accounts and transliterated custodian names that have no English equivalent — so they are not reproduced here. The Japanese edition carries the full name-by-name table, year by year.

Figures are the ownership breakdown as filed in each year's securities report, at that fiscal year's record date. Treasury stock and odd-lot holdings are excluded from the class percentages, so a company that holds much of its own stock will show classes summing to slightly under the whole.

Read the company history → Financial history → 日本語版（詳細）— full shareholder data in Japanese →

Disclaimer

This page is provided for general information only and is not investment advice, nor a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
Figures are compiled independently and include our own estimates, approximations and machine-processed data; we make no warranty as to their accuracy or completeness.
Sources are primarily each company's securities reports and other public filings, but errors and omissions may remain.
Ownership changes continuously; a filed breakdown describes one record date, not the position today.
Company names, logos and other marks belong to their respective owners.

Data API

Kao’s history, financials, executives and shareholders are published as static JSON — no key, plain GET. Full specification →

Method	Endpoint	Returns
GET	/api/companies.json	All companies
GET	/api/4452/manifest.json	Resource index
GET	/api/4452/history.json	History overview
GET	/api/4452/timeline.json	Chronology
GET	/api/decisions.json	All management decisions (index)
GET	/api/4452/decisions.json	Management decisions (index)
GET	/api/4452/decisions/{slug}.json	One decision (full dossier)
GET	/api/4452/executives.json	Executives
GET	/api/4452/shareholders.json	Major shareholders
GET	/api/4452/financials.json	Financial statements
GET	/api/4452/financials-longterm.json	Long-term results
GET	/api/4452/segments.json	Business segments
GET	/api/4452/regions.json	Sales by region
GET	/api/4452/workforce.json	Workforce