Sales 2023: ¥ 679.623 billion (€ 4.472 billion)

Overview

The Yomiuri Shimbun is the world's largest newspaper with a morning circulation of almost 8.1 million copies and an evening edition of 2.16 million copies (as of mid-2024). It is part of a Japanese keiretsu The so-called corporate conglomerate, which, as is traditionally seen in the Japanese media sector, is characterized by the close ties between private TV networks and one of the major daily newspapers. In this case, it is the Nippon Television Network Corporation, which is vertically linked to the Yomiuri Shimbun. keiretsuSole proprietorships are legally independent. 

To classify Yomiuri Shimbun/Nippon TV in the IfM ranking, we refer to the revenue for the Yomiuri Shimbun holding company, which is currently only available for 2021, added to the 2023 revenue of Nippon TV.

General Information

Headquarters:
Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings
1-7-1, Otemachi
Chiyoda-Ku
Tokyo 100-0004
Japan
Telephone: 0081 3 3242 1111
website: info.yomiuri.co.jp/english/index.html

Nippon Television Holdings
1-6-1 Higashi Shinbashi
Minato-ku
Tokyo 105-7444
Japan
Telephone: 0081 3 6215 14111
website: http://www.ntvhd.co.jp/english/ir/presentation

Branches of trade:  Daily newspaper, television, TV production and distribution
Legal form: Public limited company (Nippon Television Holdings)
Financial year: April 1st – March 31st
Founding year: 1874 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 1952 (Nippon TV)

Basic economic data Yomiuri Shimbun (in million ¥)*

	2021
Revenue	256.100

Basic economic data Nippon TV (in million ¥)*

	2023	2022	2021	2020	2029	2018
Revenue	413.523	413.979	391.335	426.599	424.945	423.633
Profit	41.877	46.593	24.042	30.555	38.739	37.416
share price (in ¥, year-end)	1.555,5	1.042	1.168	1.124	1.462	1.618
Employees	n/a	5.096	4.764	4.732	4.544	4.425

*Fiscal year ends on March 31 of the following year

Executives and Directors

Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings:

• Tsuneo Watanabe, Representative Director, Editor-in-Chief
• Shoichi Oikawa, Representative Director, Chairman of the Board, Senior Deputy Editor-in-Chief, International Operations (Editor-in-Chief, The Japan News)
• Toshikazu Yamaguchi, Representative Director, President, Circulation
• Akitoshi Muraoka, Director, Vice President, Operation Management, Network
• Gaku Shibata, Director, Osaka Operations 
• Toru Kunimatsu, Director, Seibu Operations
• Takeshi Mizoguchi, Director Yomiuri Land
• Kazuyuki Fujita, Corporate Officer, President's Office Chief, Compliance, Corporate Communications 
• Tatsuo Sekine, Director
• Yoshikuni Sugiyama, Director
• Akira Ishizawa, Director
• Shin Nagahara, Standing Auditor
• Fujio Mitarai, Auditor
• Yoshinobu Kosugi, Auditor
• Yasushi Manago, Auditor
• Yoshio Okubo, Counselor
  

Nippon TV Holdings:

• Toshikazu Yamaguchi, Representative Director, Executive Chairman
• Yoshikuni Sugiyama, Representative Director, Chairman
• Akira Ishizawa, Representative Director, President, Chief Executive Officer

History

The Yomiuri Shimbun claims to be not only the largest, but also the oldest Japanese daily newspaper still in existence today. Founded in 1874, shortly after the country's opening to the West, in the wake of enormous political, economic, and social upheaval, the newspaper was initially devoted primarily to the literary milieu of culturally conservative intellectuals who rejected the modernization of the Japanese written language. It was not until 1924, under the leadership of Shoriki Masamune, that the Yomiuri Shimbun developed a newspaper style characterized by current reporting for the masses, a tradition that has been maintained to this day. This period also saw the regular publication of a full-page radio program guide, a novelty in the Japanese newspaper market in the 1920s, and the founding of the "Yomiuri Giants" baseball team.

The newspaper's history during the military expansion phase and the Pacific War was – unlike that of the second-largest daily newspaper, Asahi – without any significant conflicts with the government. In the 1940s, the Yomiuri Shimbun developed into the largest-circulation daily newspaper in the greater Tokyo area. In 1941, the Hochi Shimbun was acquired, which is now published as a sports daily by the Yomiuri Publishing House. During the American occupation, the editor-in-chief and managing director, Shoriki Masamune, was arrested on suspicion of being a Category A war criminal, but was released in 1947. Only recently, through the opening of archives in the USA, has it been discovered that he worked for the US secret service, the CIA, in the post-war period.

After 1945, the Yomiuri Shimbun distinguished itself as the conservative mouthpiece of the ruling LDP due to Masamune Shoriki's active membership in the ruling LDP. However, for many years it was considered a "mouthpiece for the common people" due to its socially committed editorial staff. However, on some controversial issues in Japan, the Yomiuri Shimbun's line deviates significantly from that of the LDP. This applies, for example, to the official visits of Japanese prime ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine, where, in addition to the souls of Japanese soldiers and Korean conscripts, the souls of convicted Japanese war criminals are enshrined. The Yomiuri Shimbun rejected Prime Minister Koizumi's visits and advocated a solution to the problem in articles: the remains of war criminals should be buried under the same roof as those of war victims. On the other hand, the Yomiuri Shimbun advocated the deletion of words from Japanese history textbooks that referred to Japanese war guilt and forced prostitution. Finally, in 2015, the newspaper published a government-secret list of over 1,000 Japanese soldiers who died in Russian camps after the end of the war.

The newspaper's profile also includes a focus on health issues, aimed at reaching older segments of the population and especially housewives, who are traditionally entrusted with the healthcare of the entire family. In 2013, the newspaper was a key voice in the debate on health insurance reform. It made recommendations and, in 2020, formulated clear political demands for dealing with the coronavirus. The newspaper is also known for its investigative research in the healthcare sector: In 2014, for example, it revealed that eight people had died in a hospital in the Kanto region as a result of complicated abdominal surgery.

management

Tsuneo Watanabe, born in 1926, is still at the helm of his Yomiuri empire and remains Japan's most influential media mogul. The "shadow shogun," as the New York Times called him in a profile, the "Samurai of Print," or "the nearest thing Japan has to Rupert Murdoch" (Forbes), or "Japan's media don: The most powerful publisher you've never heard of" (The Economist), was long extremely publicity-shy and preferred to meet Japan's elite in back rooms. But as he has grown older, he has spoken out in interviews, for example about his wife's illness, his love of hamsters, and, last but not least, has called on Japanese society to finally critically examine Japan's role in the Second World War. Even a bout of cancer in the 1990s and, most recently, a fall in which he injured his neck in 2018 could not stop Watanabe. Just one week later, he was able to read his own newspaper, instruct the political editors, and maintain close contact with those in political power.

Business segments

Newspapers: The flagship publication is the world's largest-circulation newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, founded in 1874 and published twice daily. The group also publishes the tabloid weeklies Yomiuri Chukosei Shimbun and Yomiuri Kodomo Shimbun, published every Thursday and Friday, respectively. These are primarily aimed at children and young people and are designed to encourage them to read newspapers regularly. The Japan News, founded in 1955, is also part of the portfolio, an English-language newspaper. 

TV and online: Under the umbrella of Nippon Television Holding, whose largest shareholder is the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, the company brings together more than 40 TV stations, production companies, music publishers, fitness clubs, museums, streaming services, animation studios and e-sports companies.

Theme parks: With “Yomiuri Land,” the group operates the largest amusement park in Tokyo.

Sport: Yomiuri Shimbun owns the Yomiuri Giants, Japan's oldest and most successful baseball team.

Current developments

The biggest question preoccupying Japanese society in 2021 was whether the already postponed Summer Olympics should actually take place despite the ongoing precarious coronavirus situation. The Yomiuri Shimbun was at the center of this polarizing debate. Although it initially did not advocate cancellation—unlike its rival Asahi Shimbun, the second-largest daily newspaper—and offered to convert the Tokyo Dome, the home stadium of the Yomiuri Giants, into a massive vaccination center, it indirectly criticized Prime Minister Suga for his coronavirus management and the sluggish vaccination campaign. 

For Yomiuri leader Watanabe, it was therefore clear that the Suga administration would soon be a thing of the past. He was right. While Yoshihide Suga was relatively popular at the beginning of his term, his approval ratings quickly plummeted due to the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponed Olympic Games. By the end of his term, Suga had some of the lowest approval ratings in Japanese history. He resigned from his position as party leader on September 30, 2021.