Hajime Satomi

Hajime Satomi
Born	Hajime Satomi (1942-01-16) January 16, 1942[1] Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	CEO Director and Chairman of Sega Corp Chairman and Director of Sammy Corporation Chairman, CEO, President and Director of Sega Sammy Holdings[1][2][3]
Net worth	US $1.1 billion (2006 Forbes) [4]

Hajime Satomi (里見 治, Satomi Hajime, born January 16, 1942) was the founder of Sammy Corporation, an entertainment equipment manufacturer, which currently owns Sega, a world-renowned producer of arcade and software games.

History

Hajime Satomi withdrew from Aoyama Gakuin University November 1975 and founded Sammy Corporation as an entertainment equipment manufacturer. Sammy experienced significant growth when it began manufacturing machines for the pachislot and pachinko industry (one of Japan's most popular forms of gambling) and was successfully listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in March 2001. Sammy Corporation is now the leading manufacturer of pachislot and pachinko machines.

Sammy Corporation, Japan's largest slot machine maker^{[citation needed]} bought out ailing videogame maker Sega Corporation in 2004 for $394 million. Hajime Satomi heads the newly combined $4.5 billion (sales) group, now called Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. with its main businesses being those of Sammy Corporation and Sega Corporation. As a result, Sega Sammy Holdings had grown by 2005 to become one of the top 60 enterprises in Japan, based on recurring income.^{[citation needed]}

Career highlights

At the Asia Business Leaders Award in 2005, The Sega Corporation named Satomi as the new chairman in a realignment of management, after the Sammy Corporation became Sega's biggest shareholder. Satomi, Sammy's president, succeeded Hideki Sato, who has now become vice chairman of the new board. The announcement came two months after Sammy, bought 22.4 percent of Sega for 45.33 billion yen ($427 million), becoming the largest shareholder in the company.

Notes

References

External links

• Biography of Hajime Satomi PDF (16 KiB) — 2004-02-17
• http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/0LNE.html
• http://spong.com/article/6201?cb=419
• http://globalbusinessleaders.org/WebPage/LeaderBio.aspx?leaderCd=l002&levelcd=c02r022
• http://cnbcasia.com/abla2005/finalist6.shtm
• http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1901
• http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pr/corp/tpm.html

Articles

• Satomi appointed as Chairman of Sega

Interviews

• Interview by Spiegel Online - 2006-10-12