|
, abbreviated JT, is a cigarette manufacturing company. It is part of the Nikkei 225 index. In 2009 the company was listed at number 312 on the Fortune 500 list. The company is headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo〔"(Corporate Data (as of June 22 2012) )." Japan Tobacco. Retrieved September 27, 2012.〕 and Japan Tobacco International's headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.〔Japan Tobacco International (JTI Information for Journalists ) Retrieved on September 27, 2012〕 As of 2012 the chairman is Hiroshi Kimura and the CEO is Mitsuomi Koizumi.〔Japan Tobacco (Members of the Board, Auditors, and Executive Officers June 22, 2012 ) Retrieved on September 27, 2012〕 It was founded as a public company on April 1, 1985. ==History== Japan Tobacco is the successor entity to a nationalized tobacco monopoly first established by the Government of Japan in 1898 to secure tax revenue collections from tobacco leaf sales. In 1904, the government's leaf monopoly was extended to a complete takeover of all tobacco business operations in the nation, including all manufactured tobacco products such as cigarettes. The ostensible reason for the expansion of control was to help fund the 1904 Russo-Japanese War, but because all foreign tobacco interests in Japan at the time were forcibly evicted under the monopolization scheme, this also protected the domestic tobacco business for nearly eighty years.〔Levin, Mark, Smoke Around the Rising Sun: An American Look at Tobacco Regulation in Japan. Stanford Law and Policy Review, Vol. 8, p. 99, 1997. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1691348〕 The business operated within the Japanese government as an arm of the nation's Japanese Ministry of Finance until 1949 when the was established to enforce restrictive labor relations policies under of the U.S. and allied forces' Occupation of Japan.〔Id.〕 The Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation remained a complete state monopoly under direct Japanese Ministry of Finance authority until 1985, when Japan Tobacco, Inc. was formed as a publicly traded stock company. With periodic incremental sales of the public's ownership beginning in October 1994, Japan Tobacco became two-thirds owned by the Japanese Ministry of Finance in June 2003,〔Levin, Mark, Tobacco Industrial Policy and Tobacco Control Policy in Japan (日本におけるたばこ産業政策とたばこ規制政策). Tobacco Free Japan: Recommendations for Tobacco Control Policy, pp. 298-313, November 2004; Asian-Pacific Law & Policy, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2005. Page 301, Table A.1: Privatization of Japan's Tobacco Monopoly, 1985 to present. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1691804〕 and the ministry continued to own 50% until March 2013. It was announced in May 2012 that the government would sell one-sixth of the company's outstanding shares to raise ¥500 billion to finance reconstruction from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.〔The Japan Times (Ministry to sell chunk of JT shares May 20, 2012 ) Retrieved on August 22, 2012〕 In 2013 the Japanese government disclosed the details of its plans to reduce its equity interest in Japan Tobacco by $10 billion, devoting the proceeds to reconstruction in northeastern Japan.〔 The ministry of finance sold the stock in March 2013,〔JT website (Notice concerning decision on offer price March 11, 2013 )〕 selling about 333 million of the 1 billion shares it owned at that time. The government remains required by law to own at least one-third of JT's stock.〔Financial Times (Japan to raise up to $10bn from tobacco share sale February 25, 2013 )〕 JT International (JTI), acquired in 1999 from R.J. Reynolds, is an operating division of Japan Tobacco Inc., handling the international production, marketing and sales of the group's cigarette brands. It sells Camel, Salem, and Winston brands outside the USA. Japan Tobacco also operates in foods, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, engineering, and real estate. It will leave the beverage industry in September 2015.〔 Wall Street Journal website (February 4, 2015 Last Call for Drinks at Japan Tobacco ) Retrieved February 12, 2015 〕〔 Reuters website (February 4, 2015 UPDATE 1-Japan Tobacco says to end beverage business due to lack of scale ) Retrieved February 12, 2015 〕 Japan Tobacco completed the largest ever foreign takeover in Japanese history through acquisition of Gallaher Group plc in April 2007. Japan Tobacco runs the Tobacco and Salt Museum in Shibuya, Tokyo.〔Tobacco & Salt Museum (Home ) Retrieved on September 27, 2012〕 Japan Tobacco controls 66.4% of the cigarette market in Japan and will seek more takeovers from 2009 to build on the 1.4 trillion JPY (USD 15 billion) purchase of Gallaher Group, with then-President Hiroshi Kimura commenting that further acquisitions would be appropriate after the full integration of Gallaher by 2009.〔(JT holds approximately two-thirds of the domestic cigarette market share, which is built on its best-selling brands: Mild Seven, Cabin, Caster, Seven Stars, Peace, Camel, and Salem." ) Japan Tobacco website, 2006〕〔Hoover's business report, 2006, on Japan Tobacco Inc. "Japan Tobacco has plenty to puff about. The company controls more than 70% of the cigarette market in a country where about half of the male population smokes."〕 In 2006/2007 Japan Tobacco planned to start Serbia production, and also planned to invest another $100 million. JT paid "$35 million euros" for 98.5 percent of Senta Tobacco Industry in May 2006, with a further $10 million invested since then. The plant has a production capacity of some five billion cigarettes a year. In April 2012 it was announced that Mitsuomi Koizumi would become President, and president Hiroshi Kimura would become Chairman of JT. and Chairman Yoji Wakui would retire. Wakui had previously been a bureaucrat at the ministry of finance. Koizumi assuming the presidency meant that for the first time since the 1985 privatization neither president nor chairman was from the ministry of finance.〔The Japan Times (Japan Tobacco names Koizumi as next president April 24,2012 ) Retrieved on August 22, 2012〕 Koizumi, who had been Executive Deputy President, became president in June 2012.〔Reuters (Koizumi, Mitsuomi BRIEF BIOGRAPHY ) Retrieved on August 22, 2012〕 As of 2013, although tobacco consumption was declining, the Japanese remained heavy smokers, consuming an average of 1,800 cigarettes a year, compared to about 1,000 per capita in the United States. On October 30, 2013 JT announced that it would close four Japanese factories and cut 1,600 jobs in Japan through voluntary retirements. This was planned to be completed by March 2016. JT also planned to consolidate 25 branch offices into 15 regional headquarters, and close leaf-processing and vending machine operations.〔 Reuters (Japan Tobacco to shut plants, cut jobs as domestic demand falls October 30, 2013 ) 〕 In September 2015 it was announced that JT would buy the rights for Natural American Spirit outside the US for $5 billion.〔 Bray, Chad (Japan Tobacco Buys International Rights to Natural American Spirit September 29, 2015 ) ''NY Times'' Retrieved October 1, 2015 〕〔 (Japan Tobacco to acquire foreign sales rights to Natural American Spirit cigarettes September 30, 2015 ) ''Asahi Shimbun'' Retrieved October 1, 2015 〕〔 Monami, Yui (Japan Tobacco Lost $9 Billion After Betting on American Spirit September 30, 2015 ) ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' Retrieved October 1, 2015 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japan Tobacco」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|