Recruit Holdings

In 1960, a University of Tokyo student named Hiromasa Ezoe started a business from a small rooftop unit, creating job-hunting magazines for students. This venture, initially called Daigaku Shimbun Koukokusha, would become Recruit Holdings. The company's foundation was its "Ribbon Model," a two-sided platform connecting businesses with individuals, which started with job listings and expanded into areas like housing and travel. The company's journey was not without major challenges. In 1988, Recruit was at the center of a massive political scandal. Founder Hiromasa Ezoe was involved in offering pre-IPO shares of a subsidiary, Recruit Cosmos, to politicians and business leaders, leading to significant resignations, including that of the prime minister. This event severely damaged the company's reputation and was followed by financial hardship during Japan's economic downturn. Surviving the scandal and economic turmoil, Recruit embarked on a new chapter of global expansion in the 2010s. A key move was the acquisition of the U.S.-based job search engine Indeed in 2012, marking a significant push into HR technology. This was followed by a string of other major purchases, including Glassdoor in 2018 for $1.2 billion. To finance its global ambitions, Recruit Holdings went public with an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 2014. Today, more than half its revenue comes from outside Japan.