Hiromasa Ezoe (June 12, 1936 – February 8, 2013) was a Japanese industrialist who founded Recruit Holdings.[1] He is remembered as one of the most prolific entrepreneurs educated at the University of Tokyo, alongside Kiichiro Toyoda (founder of Toyota) and Namihei Odaira (founder of Hitachi). Ezoe was also the central figure in the Recruit insider trading scandal, which fundamentally changed the Japanese political landscape after the resignation of prominent figures including then-PM Noboru Takeshita.[2][3]
Life
Hiromasa Ezoe was born in June 1936 in Namikata Village, Ehime Prefecture, where he spent the first three years of his life.