TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Hello Kitty gets new boss after 60 years
Change Size
Cost Plus World Market and Sanrio celebrate Hello Kitty's 45th birthday In New York! on November 01, 2019 in New York City. (AFP/Astrid Stawiarz)
T
he founder of the firm behind Hello Kitty is stepping down aged 92 and handing the reins to his 31-year-old grandson -- the first change in leadership in the company's six-decade history.
Tokyo-based Sanrio, which created the ubiquitous pink-bowed character in 1974, announced on Friday that Shintaro Tsuji would retire as president and pass the torch to Tomokuni, who had been senior managing director.
Coincidentally, the new boss shares his birthday with Hello Kitty -- November 1 -- but is 14 years younger. He will become the youngest CEO of a firm listed on Tokyo's Topix index.
Shintaro's son Kunihiko died of heart failure in 2013.
Read also: Hello Kitty does Hollywood after years of talks on film rights
According to the firm's official history, Shintaro Tsuji created the forerunner to Sanrio, called Yamanashi Silk Center Co Ltd, in 1960 in Tokyo.
It changed its name in 1973 to Sanrio and created its first character goods a year later, using Hello Kitty and the duo Jimmy and Patty.
The first Hello Kitty item, a coin purse, was merchandised in 1975 and the character has since adorned everything from bullet trains to handbags. Hello Kitty even has its own popular theme park.
To the surprise of fans, Sanrio said in 2014 the feline-inspired character was not actually a cat but a "happy little girl", sparking uproar from Internet users who spluttered: "But she's got whiskers!"
The change at the top comes at a difficult time for Sanrio, whose business has been declining for many years and has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to its results also published on Friday, annual net profits plunged by 95 percent in the 2019/2020 fiscal year. Sales were down 6.5 percent at 55.2 billion yen or $514 million.
