Ken Kobayashi
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined Mitsubishi Corporation in July 1971 and built his career in ship sales. He became an Executive Officer in April 2003 and served as General Manager of the Singapore branch, moved to head of the Plant Project Division in June 2004 and head of the Ship, Transportation and Aerospace Division in April 2006, and became Senior Vice President in April 2007 while serving as CEO of the New Business Initiative Group. He became Executive Vice President in April 2010 and President two months later.
Selection
In June 2010 he succeeded Yorihiko Kojima as President, promoted two months after becoming Executive Vice President. In the fiscal year ended March 2010, the year before he took office, consolidated net sales were ¥4,541.5 billion and operating income ¥186.2 billion, down to nearly a third of the previous year's ¥597.7 billion. The change came as demand from emerging economies pushed up resource prices and trading companies competed to acquire interests.
Initiatives
In November 2011 the company announced it would acquire 24.5% of Anglo American Sur, which owns copper assets in Chile, for about ¥420 billion. After a dispute with state-owned Codelco, its stake became 20.4% in 2012. But the annual average price of copper fell from $6,558 to $5,215 per ton, and development of new mines dragged on. At the end of the fiscal year ended March 2016, the year he stepped down, the company booked a ¥271.2 billion impairment, and the consolidated bottom line fell to a ¥149.4 billion loss, the first net loss since it began consolidated reporting in fiscal 1969.
Career
Career
Mitsubishi Corporation
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jul 1971 | Joined |
| Apr 2003 | Executive Officer |
| Apr 2007 | Managing Executive Officer |
| Jun 2007 | Director, Managing Executive Officer |
| Apr 2010 | Executive Vice President, Executive Officer |
| Jun 2010 | President |
| Apr 2016 | Chairman |
| Jun 2016 | Stepped down as President |