Japanese millennial could soon be billionaire after his AI company's shares surge

May 17, 2023 | News On Japan

May 17, 2023 (Business Insider) - A Japanese millennial who uses AI to help solve a problem in the rapidly aging society has hit it big.

Since its debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June 2022, shares of M&A Research Institute — a company that matches business owners in Japan with successors using AI — surged to over thrice its opening price.

The stock rose 47% this year alone.

Thanks to this surge, 32-year-old entrepreneur Shunsaku Sagami — who owns a 72% stake in the company — is worth $950 million as of May 16, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Founded in 2018, M&A Research Institute aims to help the aging owners of small and medium-sized businesses whose businesses are forced to shutter when there's no one available to take over. The company said in April that some 620,000 profitable companies in Japan risk closure due to a lack of successors.

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