Masao Kamei
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
A career employee, he joined Sumitomo Electric Industries in 1946 and rose to President 27 years later, in November 1973. As of September 1974, the year after he took office, the major shareholders were Sumitomo Life Insurance at 8.65%, Nippon Life Insurance at 8.43%, International Standard Electric at 6.11%, Dai-ichi Life Insurance at 4.94% and NEC at 4.75%, with life insurers and Sumitomo financial institutions at the top. No individual shareholder was in the top ten, while the Sumitomo Electric employee stock ownership association ranked ninth at 1.71%.
Selection
In November 1973 he succeeded Isao Sakamoto as President, with Sakamoto moving to Chairman that same month. In FY ended March 1975, his first full year, non-consolidated net sales were ¥231.5 billion and ordinary profit ¥5.3 billion, profit having halved from ¥10.7 billion on sales of ¥238.5 billion the year before. Whereas his predecessor had come from NEC, the change returned the post to a career employee who had spent his whole working life at the company.
Initiatives
In 1974 the company began manufacturing optical fiber cable. Following traffic control systems in 1968, FPCs in 1969 and compound semiconductors in 1970, this rounded out the products beyond cable during his tenure. In 1976 it won a contract for a large-scale telecommunications network project in Nigeria, entering major overseas projects. In 1979 it carried out its first public offering of new shares at market price.
Career
Career
Sumitomo Electric Industries
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1946 | Joined |
| Nov 1973 | President |
| Jun 1982 | Chairman |
| Jun 1982 | Stepped down as President |
| 1991 | Senior Advisor |