Sanrio
Sanrio Company, Ltd. is a Tokyo-based Japanese character brand company founded by Shintaro TsujiShintaro TsujiShintaro Tsuji (born 1927) is a Japanese entrepreneur who founded Yamanashi Silk Center, the predecessor of Sanrio, in 1960 and served as its president for 60 years as it grew into a company known for characters such as Hello Kitty. In 2020 he handed the presidency to his grandson Tomokuni Tsuji; he is now honorary chairman.Open the full entry in 1960 as Yamanashi Silk Center, known for licensing and gifts built on characters such as Hello Kitty and for theme parks including Sanrio Puroland. After Tomokuni Tsuji became president in 2020, it shifted to a multi-character strategy and has repeatedly set record results.
Contents32 sections
Key facts
August 1960Founding
The company was established on August 10, 1960, as Yamanashi Silk Center Co., Ltd.[1]
Founder Shintaro Tsuji raised ¥1 million to launch it.[2]
1962First Original Design
In 1962 the company created its first original design, a strawberry, and began selling gift goods with it.[3]
1966–1969Books and Cards
In September 1966 the company published Takashi Yanase’s poetry collection Shishu Aisuru Uta, its first book, which with a sequel sold about 100,000 copies.[4]
In December 1967 it launched the Gift Book series of small picture books, and in December 1969 it began selling greeting cards.[5]
1971Gift Gate
In 1971 the company opened a new retail store concept in Tokyo, Gift Gate.[2]
1972–1973Renamed Sanrio
The company merged with Sanrio Denki Kogyo in October 1972, renamed itself Sanrio Company, Ltd. in April 1973, and merged with Sanrio Greeting that October.[6]
The founder explains that Sanrio comes from the Spanish San Rio, meaning holy river.[7]
1974Hello Kitty
In February 1974 the company began selling gifts featuring characters it had developed itself, and in December it set up a film production and distribution subsidiary in Los Angeles.[8]
Hello Kitty was conceived in 1974 by the in-house designer Yuko ShimizuYuko ShimizuYuko Shimizu is a Japanese character designer who created the original Hello Kitty in 1974 while working at Sanrio and later created characters such as Rebecca Bonbon.Open the full entry and first appeared in 1975 on a vinyl coin purse that cost ¥220.[9]
1975–1978Magazine, Licensing and Film
In 1975 the company launched the Ichigo Shinbun magazine and released its first animated film; in 1978 one of its documentaries won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[3]
In April 1976 the company began licensing its characters to other companies, and in May it set up the U.S. subsidiary Sanrio, Inc.[8]
1982–1984Listing
The company listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in April 1982 and moved to the First Section in January 1984; in April 2022 it moved to the Prime Market.[10]
In 1983 Hello Kitty became UNICEF’s children’s ambassador in the United States.[9]
1987–1991Theme Parks
In January 1987 the company moved its headquarters to Osaki, Shinagawa, Tokyo.[6]
Sanrio Puroland opened in Tama, Tokyo, in December 1990, and Harmonyland, set up with Oita Prefecture and others, opened in Hiji, Oita, in April 1991.[11]
1990s–2003Expansion in Asia
The company set up subsidiaries in Taipei in 1992, Hong Kong in 1994 and South Korea in 1998, and in Shanghai in 2003.[12]
2000Reliance on Hello Kitty
In 2000 Hello Kitty accounted for about half of the company’s annual sales, and more than 90 percent of sales came from Japan.[2]
2009–2010Theme Park Reorganization
In July 2009 the company spun off its theme parks into Sanrio Entertainment, and in March 2010 it liquidated the two former park operators.[13]
December 2011Mister Men Acquired
In December 2011 the company acquired all shares of the character company Mister Men Ltd. and THOIP through a British subsidiary.[14]
2013Heir Dies
In 2013 the founder’s son, Executive Vice President Kunihiko Tsuji, died of acute heart failure on a business trip to Los Angeles at 61.[15]
2014Character Identity Debate
In 2014 the company said Hello Kitty was not a cat but a happy little girl, which drew objections online.[16]
April 2015Possible Shareholder Data Leak
On April 8, 2015, the company said names, addresses and other data of 6,249 shareholders registered with an outsourced shareholder points service might have leaked, and suspended the service.[17]
2017–2019EU Fine
In June 2017 the European Commission opened separate antitrust investigations into the licensing and distribution practices of Nike, Sanrio and Universal Studios, examining whether they restricted traders from selling licensed merchandise cross-border and online in the EU.[18]
2018–2019Stagnation
In April 2018 the Aggretsuko anime debuted on Netflix; in the fiscal year ended March 2019, sales fell 1.8 percent to ¥59.1 billion and operating profit fell 16.5 percent.[5]
December 2018JFTC Recommendation
On December 12, 2018, the Japan Fair Trade Commission issued Sanrio a recommendation under the Subcontract Act.[21]
2020Pandemic and Succession
Both parks closed temporarily on February 22, 2020, because of COVID-19; Harmonyland reopened on June 8 and Sanrio Puroland on July 30.[11]
On June 12, 2020, the company announced that Shintaro Tsuji, 92, would hand the presidency to his 31-year-old grandson Tomokuni Tsuji; business had declined for years, and annual net profit had just fallen 95 percent.[16]
In July 2020 Tomokuni Tsuji became representative director and president, and Shintaro Tsuji became representative director and chairman.[22]
Tomokuni Tsuji thus became the youngest CEO among companies in the Topix index.[15]
In November 2020 the company formed SANRIO SOUTHEAST ASIA, a joint venture with Avex Asia.[8]
March 2021Pandemic Loss
In the fiscal year ended March 2021, sales fell 25.7 percent to ¥41.0 billion, with an operating loss of ¥3.2 billion and a net loss of ¥3.9 billion.[13]
2021–2022New Plan and Recovery
On May 25, 2021, the company announced a three-year medium-term plan; in the fiscal year ended March 2022, sales rose 28.5 percent to ¥52.7 billion and it returned to profit, booking a ¥300 million founder’s merit provision for Shintaro Tsuji’s retirement as chairman.[23]
2024Hello Kitty at 50
In the fiscal year ended March 2024, sales rose 37.7 percent to ¥99.9 billion and operating profit reached ¥26.9 billion, a record for the first time in ten years.[12]
Tomokuni Tsuji pushed diversification into other characters: Hello Kitty’s share of the North American business fell from 99 percent in 2013 to 60 percent, and to about 30 percent worldwide; he said the company wanted “peak after peak.”[24]
In 2024 the company’s market capitalization reached ¥1 trillion.[3]
2025Exhibition, Attack and Lawsuit
On January 21, 2025, Sanrio Entertainment’s network was hit by ransomware; in August the company said investigators had found no confirmed data leak.[25]
In February 2025 the company disclosed a copyright lawsuit filed by Studio Comet over Kuromi; it said the copyright belongs to Sanrio under the relevant contracts.[26]
A Hello Kitty exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum’s Hyokeikan drew 350,000 visitors; in the fiscal year ended March 2025, sales reached ¥144.9 billion and operating profit ¥51.8 billion, both records.[14]
In October 2025 the company announced that the first Hollywood Hello Kitty film would be released worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 21, 2028.[27]
March 2026New Records
In the fiscal year ended March 2026, sales rose 33.9 percent to ¥194.0 billion, with operating profit of ¥77.8 billion and net income of ¥54.6 billion, all records.[10]
April 2026Museum and Games
On April 3, 2026, a museum on the founder and the company’s history opened in Kai, Yamanashi.[28]
On April 21, 2026, the company launched Sanrio Games, its first own game publishing brand, with a party game for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 as its first title.[29]
May–June 2026: Compensation Case
On May 1, 2026, the company set up a special investigation committee into suspicions that a managing director had received extra pay from a subsidiary, and postponed its annual results.[30]
The investigation found that the director had received US$1,682,018 in benefits from Sanrio, Inc., where he was also CEO, without formal approval; no misstatement of consolidated results was found.[31]
The director resigned at the end of May; on June 23, President Tomokuni Tsuji apologized, acknowledged governance problems and said he would return 30 percent of his monthly pay for three months.[32]
June 2026Character Ranking
The 41st Sanrio Character Ranking drew a record 70,647,379 votes; Pompompurin took first place, followed by Cinnamoroll, Pochacco, Kuromi and Hello Kitty.[33]
August–October 2026: Partnerships and Ruling
On August 24, 2026, the company signed a business alliance with GENDA focused on North America.[34]
On September 18, 2026, a first-instance judgment was issued in the Studio Comet lawsuit; the company said it would review the ruling before deciding how to respond.[35]
On October 6, 2026, the company announced a multi-year partnership with the LEGO Group, with LEGO Sanrio products led by Hello Kitty planned from 2027.[36]
Its first in-house game, the Nintendo Switch party game Sanrio Party Land, is scheduled for release on October 29, 2026, priced at ¥6,380 including tax.[37]
As of October 2026: Current State
The company has 450 characters and does character business in 130 countries and territories; as of March 2026 the group had 4,765 employees, including 2,608 temporary staff.[38]
The company forecasts sales of ¥229.8 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2027 and is pursuing a long-term vision running to March 2035.[31]
Tomokuni Tsuji is representative director and president, and Shintaro Tsuji is honorary chairman.[1]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Sanrio: Official website: https://corporate.sanrio.co.jp/ (opens in a new window)[39]
X: Official account: https://x.com/sanrio_news (opens in a new window)[39]
YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/user/sanriojapan (opens in a new window)[39]
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