| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : NOVEMBER 29, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Japan's Mobile Hotshot Yasumitsu Shigeta is accustomed to being ahead of his time. In 1996, at the age of 31, the chief executive of wireless service company Hikari Tsushin Inc. became the youngest president ever to register his company on Japan's over-the-counter market. On Sept. 2, he moved Hikari to the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prestigious first section, becoming one of the youngest presidents on that exchange. ''In most IPOs in Japan, a company is 25 years old, and its founder is 50,'' says Shigeta, sporting a trendy haircut and stylish suit. ''So I'm an exception.'' And not just because of his age. In a country where success usually means toiling in a large corporation, Shigeta is a no-holds-barred entrepreneur. Determined to run his own business, he dropped out of college in 1985 to sell phones for a local retailer. Since founding Hikari in 1988, he has shown a knack for jumping into high-growth businesses at just the right time. First, it was the long-distance business as that market was deregulating in Japan. Then it was wireless-telephone services as that demand took off. Now, he's investing heavily in Net businesses. The results have been stunning. Hikari's stock has soared 535% in U.S. dollars over the past six months, to $1,285 a share. Of the companies that made BUSINESS WEEK's Info Tech 100 this year, none has had a higher return to shareholders in this time period. That includes all of the bright lights in techdom--from Microsoft and Intel to e-commerce darling BroadVision, the highest-ranking U.S. company on the list. Today, 11-year-old Hikari has a higher market capitalization than many of Japan's stalwarts, including high-tech giant Toshiba Corp. And Hikari isn't some Internet wannabe built on promise and a prayer. In the fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31, sales surged 65%, to $2.5 billion, while net income nearly doubled, to $94.1 million. OPPORTUNITY. Shigeta, the Tokyo-born son of a judge, gets the credit. At the time he dropped out of school, the government had just started to liberalize telecom, and new companies were springing up to compete in long-distance services. Shigeta set up Hikari to sell competitively priced phone services for the new carriers. ''It was an epoch-making time that only occurs once in a hundred years,'' says Shigeta. He saw the same kind of potential in mobile phones five years ago. There were about 2.1 million wireless subscribers in Japan then, but Shigeta thought the market would boom. So he launched the first of his Hit Shop retail stores to sell mobile phones and services for the new wireless carriers. Today, 52 million Japanese own mobile telephones. Shigeta collects a commission for every new customer he brings in, and he has cut deals to get a monthly percentage of the subscriber's phone bill. Shigeta is moving rapidly into Net services. Hikari offers data-network services and Web hosting, and Shigeta is investing in startups like Hong Kong Net broker Celestial Asia Securities Holdings Ltd. He plans to invest $60 million in Net and telecom companies, hoping that once again, his timing is just right. By Irene M. Kunii in Tokyo _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS The Info Tech 100: Hottest of the Hot TABLE: Snapshot: BroadVision TABLE: The Info Tech 100 Japan's Mobile Hotshot PHOTO: Yasumitsu Shigeta TABLE: Snapshot: Hikari Tsushin Excite@Home: Rebound@Hand? TABLE: Snapshot: Excite@Home INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
