Yasutaro Niizeki
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
A memorandum from the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers dated July 3, 1947, ordered the dissolution of Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corporation. It did not even allow a split into several companies and permitted no form of continuation. Its conditions barred any new company from employing more than one person who had served as an officer or department head in the past ten years, did not allow more than 100 former employees to organize a new company, and were to remain in force for ten years. In July 1947, under these restrictions, Yasutaro Niizeki, a former Managing Director of the old Mitsui & Co., became President of Daiichi Bussan.
Selection
He was the first President. At its dissolution the old Mitsui & Co. had more than 3,000 male staff alone, and each employee had to find his own way. Daiichi Bussan was set up on July 25, 1947, with capital of ¥195,000 by 37 people from the nonferrous metals, food, fertilizer, chemicals, building materials and planning departments. The old Mitsui & Co. was split into about 180 companies, and former employees founded more than 200 new companies around the country, of which this was one. For its head office it rented a building in Horidome that had once been a branch of Showa Bank, for ¥6,000 a month.
Initiatives
In May 1949 Daiichi Bussan listed its shares on the reopened Tokyo Stock Exchange. The only trading company listed at the time was Takashimaya Iida, making Daiichi Bussan the second. In its third capital increase, paid in January 1949, it made its first public offering, and seven leading life insurers, starting with Mitsui Life and Fukoku Life, followed by non-life insurers, became shareholders. In 1951 it brought in ¥50 million of foreign capital through a tie-up with Bache, raising its capital to ¥200 million. In February 1959 the merger with Muromachi Bussan was completed with Daiichi Bussan as the surviving company, and the name was changed to Mitsui & Co.
Career
Career
Mitsui &
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1947 | President |
| 1961 | Stepped down as President |