ZOZO, Inc. Announces New President

ZOZO, Inc., which operates fashion e-commerce site "ZOZOTOWN", has announced that President and Representative Director Yusaku Maezawa has resigned from his position as of today, September 12, 2019. In addition, at the Board of Directors held on the same day, it was resolved that Director Kotaro Sawada would assume the role of Representative Director, President & CEO. The retirement of Yusaku Maezawa is due to his own intention.

With the signing of the Capital and Business Alliance agreement between the Company and Yahoo Japan Corporation, the Company's President and Representative Director, Yusaku Maezawa, has announced his intention to resign from his position on September 12, 2019 in order to entrust management to the best successor for the Company, to further leap forward in new capital relationships. In consideration of this decision, a resolution was made today by the Board of Directors to elect Kotaro Sawada as the Representative Director, President & CEO of the Company. Following the adjournment of the Board of Directors, Yusaku Maezawa has resigned from the Company’s representative director and director.

*For details on this change and resignation, please refer to the timely disclosure, "Notice Concerning Change of Representative Director and Resignation of Director" announced by the Company today.
*For details on the Capital and Business Alliance agreement between the Company and Yahoo Japan Corporation, please refer to the timely disclosure, "Notice of the Expression of Opinion regarding the planned commencement of the Tender Offer for the Shares of the Company by Yahoo Japan Corporation and the closure of the Capital and Business Alliance Agreement" announced by the Company today.

 

A brief biography of newly appointed CEO:

Name
Kotaro Sawada

Date of Birth
December 15th, 1970

Birthplace
Yokohama city, Kanagawa prefecture

Biography
Born in 1970, Kanagawa Prefecture. Joins the NTT Data Corporation after graduating from the Faculty of Science and Engineering of Waseda University. Gains experience at two consulting companies prior to establishing and becoming Representative Director of Start Today Consulting Co., Ltd. in 2008, a service aimed towards apparel manufacturers to support their own e-commerce sites. In August 2013, Start Today Consulting Co., Ltd. was absorbed into Start Today Co., Ltd. and Sawada assumed the position of Director of the Company. In September 2019, he became Representative Director and CEO of ZOZO, Inc.

Career
April 1994:  Joined NTT Data Corporation
April 1998:  Joined NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting, Inc.
June 2005:  Joined Skylight Consulting Co., Ltd.
May 2008:   Representative Director of Start Today Consulting Corporation（Absorbed into the Company on August, 2013）
June 2013: Director of ZOZO, Inc.
September 2019: Representative Director, President & CEO


Koji Yanagisawa, Director, Executive Vice President& CFO will remain in his current position, and Director Masahiro Ito will be appointed as Director, COO.

 

ZOZO, Inc.

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