Taro Ando

Profile
Tenure
May 1974 – Jun 1994
Years in office
20.1 years
Name in Japanese
安藤太郎
Title at appointment
President
Performance in office
Sumitomo Realty & Development
Performance in office
FY1974FY1994Change
Revenue¥33.4billion¥388.0billion+1062%
Net margin2.7%-0.6%−3.3pt
SeyamaAndoTakashima
Revenue¥5.8 billionRevenue¥43.7 billionRevenue¥389.1 billionNet margin5.2%Net margin0.5%Net margin2.8%1969/31974/31979/31984/31989/31994/31999/3
Revenue¥5.8 billionRevenue¥43.7 billionRevenue¥389.1 billionNet margin5.2%Net margin0.5%Net margin2.8%1969/31974/31979/31984/31989/31994/31999/3
API: /api/8830/financials_history.csv · /api/8830/financials/pl.json
Tenure

Tenure

Background

He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University in March 1934 and joined Sumitomo Bank. He became Director and head of the Tokyo office in November 1959, Senior Managing Director in May 1967 and Deputy President in May 1972. Without any hands-on experience in real estate, after 40 years at Sumitomo Bank rising through its executive ranks, he moved to Sumitomo Realty & Development as President in May 1974.

Education: Tokyo Imperial University, Faculty of Law (now University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law) (1934)

Selection

He became President in May 1974 as Seigoro Seyama became Representative Director and Chairman. The Shinjuku Sumitomo Building had been completed in March 1974, two months before, so the handover came just after the company had taken on a new skyscraper. Land prices fell amid the oil crisis that same year, and the company sank into the red. The appointment appears to have sent the deputy president of its main bank into a company that had kept adding buildings on borrowed money.

Initiatives

In March 1975 he set up Sumitomo Real Estate Sales, spinning off the brokerage business into a separate company. In 1976 the company withdrew from the development of Osaka Business Park. Taking Mori Building and Mitsubishi Estate as models and regarding leased office buildings as the pillar of stable income, he established a practice of holding the buildings it built rather than passing them to investors. In 1982 the company scaled back residential sales, which had accounted for 80% of revenue, and concentrated its resources on office leasing in central Tokyo.

Career

Career

Sumitomo Bank

Date Position
Apr 1934 Joined
Nov 1959 Director, General Manager, Tokyo Office
May 1967 Senior Managing Director
May 1972 Deputy President

Sumitomo Realty & Development

Date Position
May 1974 President

Sumitomo Real Estate Sales

Date Position
Jul 1975 Director
References 4

References (Japanese primary sources)