Hiroshi Mikitani

Mikitani in 2020
Hiroshi Mikitani
Born	11 3, 1965
Birthplace	Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Founder and CEO, Rakuten Group, Inc.
Known for	Founding Rakuten
Children	2

Hiroshi Mikitani (三木谷浩史, Mikitani Hiroshi; born March 11, 1965) is a Japanese billionaire businessman, writer, and entrepreneur who founded Rakuten, Inc. in 1997 and has served as its chairman and chief executive officer since its inception. Under his leadership, Rakuten grew from an online shopping mall based in Japan into a global internet services conglomerate with operations spanning e-commerce, financial technology, digital content, and mobile telecommunications. Mikitani also serves as president of Crimson Group, chairman of the J1 League football club Vissel Kobe, and chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Beyond the corporate sphere, Mikitani has been an outspoken voice on Japanese economic reform, technology policy, and the adoption of English as a business language. He has served on the boards of several international companies, including the American ride-hailing firm Lyft. He has been described by Wired magazine as "Japan's answer to Jeff Bezos."

Early Life

Hiroshi Mikitani was born on March 11, 1965, in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. His father was an economist, a background that influenced Mikitani's interest in business and commerce from an early age. Growing up in Kobe, Mikitani was shaped by the city's cosmopolitan character as one of Japan's major port cities with a long history of international trade and cultural exchange.

The devastating Great Hanshin earthquake of January 1995, which struck the Kobe area and killed more than 6,000 people, proved to be a transformative event in Mikitani's life. The earthquake caused widespread destruction in his hometown, and the experience of witnessing the aftermath and the slow pace of institutional response reportedly galvanized his desire to create something new and impactful. According to his account at Harvard Business School, the tragedy was a catalyst that pushed him toward entrepreneurship and ultimately led to the founding of Rakuten two years later.

Education

Mikitani attended Hitotsubashi University, one of Japan's most prestigious institutions for the social sciences and commerce, where he studied economics. After completing his undergraduate education, he entered the workforce at the Industrial Bank of Japan (IBJ), one of the country's leading financial institutions at the time.

Mikitani subsequently pursued graduate studies in the United States, enrolling at Harvard Business School. He earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Harvard in 1993. His time at Harvard exposed him to American business culture, entrepreneurial thinking, and the emerging potential of the internet as a commercial platform. The experience at Harvard, combined with the networks he built there, played a formative role in shaping his approach to business and his later vision for Rakuten as a globally oriented company.

Career

Early Career at the Industrial Bank of Japan

After graduating from Hitotsubashi University, Mikitani joined the Industrial Bank of Japan (IBJ), where he worked in corporate finance and gained experience in Japan's banking sector. He began his professional career in 1988 and spent several years at the bank before departing to attend Harvard Business School. Following his MBA, he returned to work before ultimately deciding to leave the traditional corporate path and launch his own venture.

Founding of Rakuten

In 1997, Mikitani founded Rakuten, Inc. as an online shopping mall in Japan. The company's name, meaning "optimism" in Japanese, reflected Mikitani's belief in the potential of e-commerce to transform retail in Japan. At its founding, Rakuten operated as a platform connecting merchants with consumers, differentiating itself from the inventory-based model used by competitors such as Amazon. Rather than purchasing and reselling goods directly, Rakuten provided a marketplace where individual merchants could set up virtual storefronts, a model that drew comparisons to a digital shopping arcade.

The company went public on the Jasdaq exchange in 2000, during the height of the dot-com boom. Rakuten's marketplace model proved successful in the Japanese market, and the company rapidly expanded its domestic operations. Over the following years, Rakuten diversified beyond e-commerce into a wide range of internet services, including travel bookings, financial services, credit cards, banking, insurance, and securities trading. This ecosystem approach, which Mikitani termed the "Rakuten Ecosystem," was designed to encourage users to conduct as many of their daily transactions as possible within the Rakuten network, earning and spending loyalty points across services.

Global Expansion

Under Mikitani's leadership, Rakuten embarked on an ambitious program of international expansion through acquisitions. The company acquired e-commerce platforms and technology companies across multiple continents, including Buy.com (later renamed Rakuten.com Shopping) in the United States, PriceMinister in France, and Play.com in the United Kingdom. These acquisitions were part of Mikitani's stated goal to build a global e-commerce empire to rival Amazon.

In 2012, Rakuten made a strategic investment in Pinterest, the visual discovery platform, a move that Bloomberg Businessweek reported was part of the company's broader quest to become a global player in the internet economy. In 2014, Rakuten acquired the messaging application Viber for approximately $900 million, further extending its global digital footprint.

In June 2015, Mikitani joined the board of directors of Lyft, the American ride-hailing company, following Rakuten's investment in the firm. This board position reflected his interest in the sharing economy and technology-driven disruption of traditional industries. In January 2026, Mikitani resigned from the board of AST SpaceMobile, a satellite-based telecommunications company, stating that the decision was not related to any disagreement with the company.

"Englishnization" Policy

One of Mikitani's most prominent and controversial corporate initiatives was the adoption of English as the official language of Rakuten's internal operations. Announced in 2010, the policy, which Mikitani dubbed "Englishnization," required all employees — the vast majority of whom were Japanese — to conduct meetings, write internal documents, and communicate in English. The Wall Street Journal reported that the policy was tied to Mikitani's growth push and his ambition to position Rakuten as a truly global company.

The policy attracted significant attention both within Japan and internationally. It was seen by some observers as emblematic of a new generation of Japanese business leaders willing to challenge established corporate norms. The Economist framed Mikitani's approach as part of a broader tension between "new Japan" and "old Japan," with Mikitani representing a more internationally oriented, reform-minded business philosophy. Mikitani wrote a book about the policy, Marketplace 3.0, in which he argued that English-language adoption was essential for Japanese companies seeking to compete on the global stage.

Rakuten Mobile and Telecom Disruption

In one of the most ambitious and costly phases of his career, Mikitani led Rakuten's entry into the mobile telecommunications market. Rakuten Mobile launched as Japan's fourth mobile network operator, directly challenging the entrenched incumbents NTT Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank. Mikitani championed the use of Open RAN (Open Radio Access Network) technology, which uses virtualized, software-based network architecture rather than the proprietary hardware systems traditionally supplied by vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia.

The venture was positioned as a disruptive force in Japanese telecommunications, with Mikitani offering significantly lower prices to consumers. However, the buildout of a nationwide mobile network from scratch proved far more expensive and time-consuming than initially projected, and Rakuten Mobile accumulated substantial financial losses over several years. By the third quarter of 2025, Rakuten Mobile had begun to narrow its losses, reporting positive earnings in certain metrics and growing revenue by 12 percent year-over-year, signaling a gradual march toward profitability.

Nevertheless, analysts at Light Reading characterized the mobile venture as a cautionary tale, suggesting that Rakuten had "misjudged that Japan was primed for a telecom shake-up and that the world was desperate for another telecom vendor." The mobile division also attempted to sell its Open RAN platform technology to other operators internationally through a subsidiary called Rakuten Symphony, but this effort faced significant headwinds in a competitive and skeptical market.

Partnerships and Recent Business Activities

In February 2026, Rakuten Group announced a partnership with Google to launch a new shopping service in Japan integrated with YouTube, allowing viewers to purchase products directly through the video platform. This partnership represented a continuation of Mikitani's strategy to expand Rakuten's e-commerce presence through alliances with major global technology firms.

In December 2025, Mikitani met with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during the latter's official visit to Japan, reflecting Rakuten's engagement with international government leaders and the company's interest in expanding its global footprint.

Advocacy for AI and Technology Policy

Mikitani has positioned himself as a public advocate for artificial intelligence development in Japan. In a January 2026 commentary for Project Syndicate, he argued that Japan's regulatory environment, characterized by what he called an "innovation-first" approach, combined with public acceptance of the technology, positioned the country to become a global leader in AI. He elaborated on this thesis in an Arab News piece, countering prevailing pessimism about AI's impact and suggesting that Japan's cultural and policy framework was conducive to productive AI adoption.

Sports and Cultural Investments

Vissel Kobe

In December 2014, Rakuten acquired the Japanese football club Vissel Kobe, based in Mikitani's hometown of Kobe. TechCrunch reported that the acquisition mirrored a similar move by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose founder Jack Ma had recently purchased a stake in Guangzhou Evergrande. Under Mikitani's chairmanship, Vissel Kobe signed several high-profile international players and pursued an aggressive strategy to raise the club's competitive standing. Rakuten also became a global sponsor of FC Barcelona, further intertwining Mikitani's business interests with international football.

In July 2025, Mikitani played a role in resolving logistical issues that had threatened to derail FC Barcelona's pre-season tour to Japan. He described the effort as "the hardest task we have ever taken on."

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

Mikitani serves as chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, one of Japan's leading orchestral ensembles. This role reflects his involvement in Japan's cultural landscape beyond the technology and business sectors.

Economic Reform Advocacy

Mikitani has been a vocal advocate for structural reforms in the Japanese economy. He has publicly argued for deregulation, increased competition, and greater openness to international business practices. In 2011, he drew attention for his stance against nuclear energy in Japan, advocating for alternatives following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The Wall Street Journal reported on the difficulties and backlash he faced in taking an antinuclear position within Japan's business establishment.

Mikitani also served as a representative director of the Japan Association of New Economy (JANE), an industry group that advocates for internet-related businesses and digital economic policy in Japan.

Personal Life

Hiroshi Mikitani is married and has two children. He resides in Japan and maintains both Japanese and English-language public profiles, consistent with his advocacy for bilingualism in Japanese business culture.

Mikitani's connection to his hometown of Kobe has remained a defining personal and professional theme throughout his career. The 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, which devastated the city, was by his own account the experience that catalyzed his decision to become an entrepreneur. His acquisition of the Vissel Kobe football club and his various philanthropic efforts in the region reflect this ongoing connection.

The Financial Times profiled Mikitani in 2012, examining his personal drive and the philosophy underpinning his approach to business and corporate culture.

Recognition

In 2014, Mikitani was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government, one of the highest decorations in France. The honor recognized his contributions to Franco-Japanese business relations, including Rakuten's acquisition of the French e-commerce platform PriceMinister and the company's broader investment in France. The Japan Times reported on the award ceremony.

Mikitani's profile as a business leader has been the subject of coverage by major international publications. Wired described him as "Japan's answer to Jeff Bezos," drawing parallels between his ambition to build a comprehensive e-commerce ecosystem and the strategy pursued by Amazon's founder. The Economist placed him at the center of a generational debate within Japanese business, representing a new, internationally minded class of entrepreneurs challenging the country's traditionally conservative corporate culture.

The Boston Globe noted the connection between Mikitani's Rakuten and the Boston Red Sox following the 2013 World Series, highlighting shared championship celebrations that bridged Japanese and American sports culture.

His high-level meetings with foreign heads of state, such as his December 2025 meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, further reflect his standing as one of Japan's most prominent business figures on the international stage.

Legacy

Hiroshi Mikitani's career has been defined by a series of large-scale bets — on e-commerce, on English as a corporate language, on global expansion through acquisitions, on mobile telecommunications, and on AI. His founding of Rakuten created one of Japan's largest and most diversified internet companies, and the Rakuten Ecosystem model of interconnected services, linked by a shared loyalty points program, influenced how other Japanese and Asian technology companies approached platform strategy.

His "Englishnization" policy at Rakuten, while controversial, sparked a broader national conversation in Japan about language, globalization, and the future of Japanese business in an increasingly interconnected world. The policy drew both admiration and criticism but undeniably raised the profile of the debate about how Japanese companies should adapt to global competition.

Rakuten Mobile's entry into Japan's telecommunications market represented one of the most ambitious attempts to disrupt an established industry using new technology. While the financial costs were substantial and the timeline longer than anticipated, the effort introduced Open RAN technology into mainstream telecommunications discussions and put competitive pressure on Japan's incumbent carriers to lower prices, a development that benefited Japanese consumers.

Through his roles at Vissel Kobe, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and JANE, Mikitani has operated at the intersection of business, sports, culture, and public policy in Japan. His advocacy for AI development and technology-friendly regulation, articulated in publications such as Project Syndicate, positions him as one of the leading voices in Japan's technology industry as the country navigates the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence.