Hiroshi Mikitani
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined The Industrial Bank of Japan in April 1988 and left in May 1996. After serving as Representative Director and President of the consulting firm Crimson Group, in February 1997 he founded MDM, Inc. in Atago, Minato-ku, Tokyo, with capital of ¥10 million. That May he opened Rakuten Ichiba. In the fiscal year ended December 2005 the major shareholders were he himself with 19.29%, Crimson Group with 19.07% and Haruko Mikitani with 13.17%, so he and related parties held the top three spots.
Selection
He was the first President of the company he founded himself, with no predecessor. At launch only 13 shops were on the mall. While department-store-backed virtual malls charged listing fees on the order of ¥1 million a month, Rakuten offered a flat monthly fee of ¥50,000, an order of magnitude lower, and let shop owners set up their own stores with RMS, an editing tool that required no programming. It funded its working capital with contracts requiring six months of system fees to be paid up front, and secured ordinary profits for two straight years from the fiscal year ended December 1998. Launching without relying on outside capital appears to have given it greater freedom in later decisions.
Initiatives
In February 2002 the company replaced the flat ¥50,000 fee with usage-based pricing, adding charges for shops with monthly sales above ¥1 million. In 2003 it made subsidiaries, one after another, of MyTrip.net, operator of Tabi no Madoguchi, and DLJdirect SFG Securities. In September 2004 it acquired Aozora Card, entering consumer finance, and in February 2009 it made eBANK Corporation a subsidiary. In October 2019 Rakuten Mobile launched mobile carrier services, and in December 2025 total subscriptions exceeded 10 million.
Career
Career
Industrial Bank of Japan
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 1988 | Joined |
Kurimuzon Group
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Feb 1996 | Representative Director, President |
Rakuten Group
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Feb 1997 | Representative Director, President (at founding) |
| Feb 2001 | Representative Director, Chairman and President |
| Mar 2004 | Representative Director, Chairman and President, Chief Operating Officer |