Masatoshi Ito, the Japanese billionaire died at 98. Ito turned 7-Eleven convenience stores into a global empire Seven & I Holdings (SVNDF), operator of 7-Eleven, confirmed the death in a report on Monday, adding that Ito died from old age on March 10.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude for your kindness and friendship during his life and respectfully inform you of his passing.”
The Company said.
Ito changed everyday retail in Japan, turning a US-born company into an international brand, especially in Asia where 7-Eleven shops are rarely more than a few minutes’ step away in many cities.
Seven & I Holdings now manages over 83,000 stores around the world, including 7-Eleven shops in 19 regions and countries as well as the Speedway convenience store chain in the United States.
Chief rivals include the Japanese-owned Lawson and Family Mart convenience store franchises, but neither has achieved the sheer size or global reach of the 7-Eleven empire.
Ito’s business sense was influenced by his friendship with the late management consultant Peter Drucker, who portrayed Ito as “one of the world’s outstanding entrepreneurs and business builders.”
In a 1988 interview with The Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry, Ito said he traveled to the US in 1960 and “experienced a kind of cultural shock at how rich everybody seemed” at a time when Japan was recovering from the aftermath of World War II.
I became particularly conscious of the sheer size of America’s consumer society and the distribution techniques that made it all possible.
It then occurred to me that people in different cultures still have basically the same desires, assuming that they are at the same of development, and I thought that Japan’s distribution system would become more like America’s as the Japanese consumer society grew bigger.”
Ito quoted as saying.
Looking back at 7-Eleven’s success, Ito was quoted as saying in the 1988 interview that he was frequently asked if he succeeded because of hard work or because he was just lucky. The answer was some of both.”
