Hiroshi Mikitani, Founder and Chief Executive of Rakuten
Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani founded Rakuten in February 1997 and serves as Representative Director, Chairman, President and CEO of Rakuten Group, Inc. He has held the Chief Executive Officer title since March 2004 and has led the Tokyo company as president since its founding.
| Role | Representative Director, Chairman, President and CEO |
|---|---|
| Company | Rakuten Group, Inc. |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
| Industry | Retail and Ecommerce |
| In role since | 1997 |
| Born | 11 March 1965 |
| Education | MBA, Harvard Business School (1993) |
| Company website | global.rakuten.com |
From the Industrial Bank of Japan to Founding Rakuten
Mikitani began his career in banking and earned an MBA in the United States before starting his own businesses:
- April 1988: Joined the Industrial Bank of Japan, now Mizuho Bank
- May 1993: Received an MBA from Harvard Business School
- February 1996: President and Representative Director of Crimson Group
- February 1997: Founded Rakuten as President and Representative Director
- February 2001: Chairman, President and Representative Director
- March 2004: Chief Executive Officer
- March 2022: Representative Director and Chairman, Rakuten Mobile
- August 2023: Representative Director, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Symphony
- August 2024: Vice Chairman of the Board and CEO, Rakuten Medical
Rakuten Services, Members and 2025 Revenue
Rakuten Group runs more than 70 businesses in e-commerce, travel, digital content, fintech, mobile communications and professional sports. Its head office is Rakuten Crimson House in Setagaya, Tokyo. The group counts about 2.1 billion members worldwide, and over 100 million members in Japan use a single Rakuten member ID across its services.
For fiscal 2025 Rakuten Group reported consolidated revenue of 2,496.6 billion yen. At the end of December 2025 the group had 29,419 consolidated employees.
Sports, Culture and Business Association Roles
Mikitani has been Chairman and Representative Director of the company now known as Rakuten Vissel Kobe since 2006 and team owner of Rakuten Baseball since 2012. He became Representative Director of the Japan e-business Association, now the Japan Association of New Economy, in 2010, and Chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011. He is scheduled to give the keynote at the Rakuten AI Technology Conference 2026 in Tokyo in November 2026.
