is a Japanese entrepreneur known for founding and developing the social networking service Gree, provided by Gree, Inc. Yoshikazu Tanaka was born in Mitaka,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 1977. When Tanaka was a junior high school student, Tanaka became keenly interested in changes in society by informatization and the field of information-communication by reading "

Power Shift Power Shift is an annual youth summit which has been held in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other Power Shift Conferences are also being organised by members of the International Youth Climate Movement ...

" by

Alvin Toffler Alvin Eugene Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on th ...

. In 2003, at the age 26, Tanaka started developing Gree as a hobby. In February 2004, Tanaka opened Gree to the public, as a personal website. By March 2004, over 10,000 users had joined the service that soon became hard for him to manage rapidly growing service by himself. In December 2004, Tanaka established Gree, Inc. in order to cope the growing number of users. In December 2008, Gree, Inc. was listed on the Market of the High-Growth and Emerging Stocks, closing at the highest market value of shares on the first day. In February 2009, Tanaka was ranked 24th among "Japan's 40 Richest

Billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

s" by

Forbes Asia ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

. As of 2010, at age 33, he was ranked as "Asia's Youngest Self-Made Billionaire" under the age of 35 and was selected as the "World's Second-Youngest Self-Made Billionaire" after

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

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. In June 2010, 5 years after the foundation, Gree was listed on the first section of the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...

. Tanaka was 33 years and 3 month at that time and the youngest founder whose company is listed on the TSE first section. Tanaka was able to set his social network apart from the well established Japanese brands

Mixi is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded ...

and

DeNA is a Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commerce websites headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It owns the Mobage cell phone platform and also operates other services, including the e-commerce website DeNA Shopping (formerly: Bidders). H ...

by concentrating on mobile games and making partnerships with major

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References

External links

GREE

GREE Corporate site

GREE International, Inc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Yoshikazu Living people Japanese businesspeople People from Mitaka, Tokyo 1977 births Nihon University alumni