Renraku

Renraku Computer Systems (ja. 連絡 コンピューターシステムズ), headquartered in Chiba, Japan, is the fifth largest corporation in the world, and the third largest corporation in Japan. As the name implies, its business core is computer technology, especially memory storage and databases. Since it acquired one of the Corporate Court's original founders, Keruba International, Renraku permanently seats a representative on the Corporate Court. The Renraku Red Samurai are its internal security forces.
They are strong backers of the imperialist faction in Japan, opposing the reformers led by Emperor Yasuhito.

Assets

Renraku Arcology

History

Renraku Computer Systems originally began life as Keruba International. Keruba Int'l was a Slovenia based military consortium that made a mint during the turmoil of the first decade of the new millennium. They are also responsible for perfecting vertical thrust vehicles. Combined with quickly militarizing local markets in the Middle East, the Russo-Polish border, and Boznia-Herzegovina, the company became very profitable, and eventually diversified in the fields of heavy industry, global telecommunications, and computers. In the early 2010s, Keruba became an extraterritorial power following the Shiawase Decision. Being a military manufacturer, it's only logical that they were a constant thorn in the sides of other megacorporations. In 2011, a shadow war between Keruba Int'l and BMW spurred the corps to action and resulted in the formation of the Inter-Corporate Council (ICC), the precursor to the Corporate Court. The ICC was meant to be a mediating body between megas in an attempt to maintain profitability for all sides. Unfortunately, the ICC was unable to bring an end the conflict between Keruba and BMW. Thankfully, they had fought themselves out by the end of the year.
Keruba went to war again in 2013, this time against the ORO Corporation (now Aztechnology). This was the ICC's first actual case, and they blundered it terribly. Before long, the conflict resolved itself however. Unfortunately, for Keruba, it cost them a lot more than it cost the ORO. This conflict ate up a large portion of their operating expenses, and for the next sixteen years Keruba bravely fought off acquisitions by Ares Macrotechnology, Saeder-Krupp, and Mitsuhama Computer Technologies.
In 2029, thanks to the Matrix Crash and the untimely death of their CEO, the company wasn't able to fend off the attack that killed them.
It was at that time that a, then relatively unknown, corporate raider named Inazo Aneki purchased Keruba Int'l outright through a holding company named Renraku Holdings. Originally Aneki had planned on breaking apart Keruba and selling off the parts. For some reason, though, he changed his mind. And instead moved the corporate headquarters of the newly named Renraku Computer Systems to Chiba, Japan with himself as President and CEO.
During the '30s Renraku positioned itself strategically at the forefront of rebuilding the global information network. This raised the stocks price, and helped secure its position on the Corporate Court. It also made the executives of Renraku very rich people.
During this time Renraku came under a cloud of suspicion including allegations of corruption, bribery, scandals, and mismanagement. A few of the major investors made moves to oust Aneki from his position before he could make anything worse. They figured they had to take some sort of drastic action, or else the entire corporation would collapse around them.
Aneki had other ideas. He managed to orchestrate a reverse coup wherein he booted those investors off the board by buying out there shares directly. This left Aneki in a tight position. He needed a vast infusion of cash in order to keep the whole thing floating. His solution was to issue a drek-ton of shares in Renraku. By the end of it, poor Aneki only retained 5% of Renraku's stock, but he had managed to hold on to the corporation.
Over the next twenty-odd years, Aneki streamlined Renraku into one of the most stable corporations on the block. They weren't quite the leader of the pack, nor were they the lowest man on the totem pole, but instead proudly maintained their position in the middle of the pack.

Today's Solutions to Tomorrow's Problems

Rating

AAA #5

World Headquarters

Chiba, Japan

President/CEO

Inazo Aneki

Chairman of the Board

Yukiako Watanabe

Corporate

Status Public

Major Shareholders

None (no shareholder owns more than 10%)

Controlled Territories

• Renraku Arcology