Tadashi Onodera
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He became a Director of DDI in June 1989, Managing Director in June 1995 and Representative Director and Executive Vice President in June 1997. When KDDI was launched on October 1, 2000, through the merger of KDD and Nippon Idou Tsushin (IDO) into DDI as the surviving company, he, as Executive Vice President in charge of mobile communications, positioned the three Tu-Ka companies serving the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka areas as a bridge to next-generation services. Tu-Ka's capital spending exceeded ¥100.0 billion in fiscal 2000 alone.
Selection
In June 2001 he became President at 53, replacing 69-year-old Yuzai Okuyama. KDDI carried ¥2 trillion in interest-bearing debt, and on October 2, 2000, its first day of business, its share price fell ¥35,000 to its low for the year. At its launch it had 53 executives including five part-time; the 48 full-time executives comprised 25 from former DDI, 14 from former KDD and 9 from former IDO, and an agreement not to alternate posts among the merged companies' people had not been honored. For Kyocera the appointment signaled leadership by the former DDI, while Toyota Motor avoided sending a President to a company with ¥2 trillion in debt.
Initiatives
On taking office he introduced an executive officer system, cutting the number of executives from more than 50 to 12 to 15. In March 2002 he resolved the dual infrastructure of the former DDI's PDC system and the former IDO's CDMA system, unifying on CDMA and progressively retiring the PDC equipment. In December that year the company launched Chaku-uta, a music download service for mobile phones, which reached 7 million cumulative downloads by August 2003. In fiscal 2003 au's annual net subscriber additions exceeded NTT DOCOMO's, taking first place in Japan. In 2010 the company took a capital stake in JCOM, bringing video and broadcasting into its business.
Career
Career
KDDI
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jun 1989 | Director |
| Jun 1995 | Managing Director |
| Jun 1997 | Representative Director, Executive Vice President |
| Jun 2001 | Representative Director, President |
| Jun 2005 | Representative Director, President and Chairman |
| Dec 2010 | Stepped down as President |