Yoshikazu Tanaka Japanese entrepreneur Country: Japan

Biography of Yoshikatsu Tanaka

Yoshikatsu Tanaka, a Japanese entrepreneur, is the developer of the social network GREE and the founder of GREE Inc., the company that manages the network. Born in Mitaka-City, Tokyo, Tanaka developed a keen interest in high technology and its impact on social relations during his school years. He was greatly influenced by Alvin Toffler's book "Power Shift."

In 2003, at the age of 26, Tanaka started developing the GREE social network as a hobby project. In February 2004, he opened his network to the public, which initially consisted of a simple homepage with additional social features. The success of GREE was astounding, with over 10,000 users registered on the site by March 2004. Realizing that he couldn't handle such a popular project alone, Tanaka founded GREE Inc. in December 2004 to formalize and manage the interaction with numerous users.

The number of users continued to grow, and in December 2008, GREE Inc. was listed as one of the fastest-growing and developing companies in the contemporary market. In February 2009, Tanaka ranked 24th on Forbes ASIA's list of the wealthiest billionaires in Japan. At the age of 33 in 2010, Yoshikatsu became the "youngest self-made billionaire in Asia." In the global ranking of self-made billionaires, Tanaka secured the second position, surpassed only by the creator of another popular social network, Mark Zuckerberg.

In June 2010, GREE Inc. was listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, making Tanaka, at the age of 33 years and 3 months, the youngest founder ever to have a company listed in this section. Currently, GREE Inc. continues to grow and rise in value, and it is possible that Tanaka will set more records in the future.

The secret to Tanaka's success was not only the uniqueness of his idea, as social networks already existed in Japan before him. Yoshikatsu was able to stand out from his competitors, including influential players like Mixi and DeNA, by focusing on mobile gaming and creating partnership programs with major Internet providers.