Yuji Ito Replaces Founder Takashi Inoue as President of Japanese Marketplace Operator Lifull

Yuji Ito will replace company founder Takashi Inoue as president of the Japanese online real estate marketplace operator Lifull Co.

Inoue, who has led the company since 1997, will transition to the position of chairman and representative director, maintaining oversight of the real estate finance division and the group's international ventures.

Ito has rapidly ascended the ranks at Lifull since joining the company fresh from university in 2006. By 2015, at the age of 32, he became the company's youngest executive.

Speaking via a company press release revealing the change, Inoue said:

"We have been considering and nurturing a succession plan for some time, but now that we have established a perfect system, we have decided to transition to the next generation management system. As the representative director and chairman, I myself will promote the overall business growth of the group as a whole, and at the same time strengthen the governance system, and create a group that will continue to grow over the long term for 50 to 100 years through repeated renewal."

Lifull operates the Homes.co.jp portal domestically as well as several adjacent businesses including senior care, a search engine for storage solutions and an investment company. It also runs many portal websites around the world as well as aggregator sites Mitula and Trovit via its Overseas division.

The company reported operating profits of $13 million USD from $240 million in revenue for the 12 months leading up to September 2023.