Yamatetsu

Yamatetsu is a Japanese Megacorporation and member of the Corporate Court. It is best known for making metahuman friendly products, and being funded by a combination of Filipino and Japanese businessmen.

History

From the ashes of the Crash of '29, the Yamatetsu Corporation rose like a phoenix. It was the brain child of Tadamako Shibanojuki, whose original intentions was to create a Japanese/Filipino corporate bloc to prevent the Japanacorps from overtaking their corporate interests. This move really echoes the same sort of thinking that led "Tiger" Mitsuhama into forming MCT, but this time several "outsiders" (read Filipino) corporations were invited to the table. Shibanojuki's consortium was split down the middle in terms of ownership. Fifty percent of the board was owned by Japanese interests, and the other by Filipino interests. The Filipino corporations were basically forced to the negotiation table thanks to the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines. They were too weak to stand up against the Japanacorps themselves, and thus had to sign a deal with Japanese interests for the sake of security.
Since it was his brain child, the board named Shibanojuki as its Chairman, and the corporation opened it's doors in 2032. Thanks its diverse nature as a multinational keiretsu, its focus on producing products aimed at metahumans, and military industrial complex (and willingness to exploit the EuroWars) the company flourished. Within a decade was able to make a run at joining the Corporate Court.
Which is just what they did in 2041, and did so with quite a bang. Contrary to how other megacorporations had gained power (through mergers and acquisition mostly), Yamatetsu launched a low level corporate shadow war. They were able to exploit their enemy's low expectations against them, and were even able to position their enemies into fighting one another.
Saeder-Krupp, Ares Macrotech, and Aztechnology and several smaller A and AA corporations supported Yamatetsu in a bid to break the Japanacorp control of the Corporate Court and a better bargaining position in the future respectively. This low level shadow war, even went so far as to start seeing legitimate corporate military assets entering into the fray.
Utlimately, Yamatestu was victorious in their endeavor and joined the Corporate Court in 2042.
All was not well in the kingdom of Yamtetsu though. Behind the scenes, a Japanese man named Hideo Yoshida was secretly organizing a buy out of the Filipino held stock. Not only was he doing this, he was also ordering the other Japanese directors to do so as well. Rumours have it t that Yoshida had the backing of several Japanese megacorps, in an attempt so sow discord from within Yamatetsu.
Within a short time Yoshida’s plans came to fruition. The Japanese contingent had gathered enough stock to name Yoshida as the Chairman of the board, effectively exiling Shibanokuji and purging the Fillipino directors from the board.
During Yoshida’s buy out, an anomaly appeared. It seemed that eleven percent of the stock in Yamatetsu had been snapped up by an unknown buyer. Everyone feared the worst, because it had the hallmark of a corporate takeover in waiting. When the purchases were traced they found that this mystery investor had pulled a similar power move in almost a dozen other major corporations. Yoshida, and the board, called an imediate meeting of the board and issued an invitation to the mystery investors representatives.
When the meeting was held, the board was stunned to see a female Japanese teenager sitting in the mystery man’s position. They had expected a team of negotiators ready to begin the corporate takeover, but instead they were met with Ms. Buttercup. She quickly explained that she had recently inherited quite a sum of money, and knew that a smart investment in Yamatestsu would yield more yet. Shibanokuji immediately made an offer on her shares in an attempt to get back into his Chairman spot, but she turned down the offer, even if it was twice as much as she had paid. She wanted to sit on the board, and that’s what she did.
For almost a decade she sat and quietly watched the situation around her. She hardly ever interfered in the politics and power playing that when on in the boardroom. Instead she watched and learned… She also offered her wealth and influence to struggling divisions inside of Yamatetsu to help them overcome temporary hurdles.
Yoshida was not happy with this mystery woman though and spent a considerable amount of money on discovering her true identity. He even went so far to higher an espionage expert named Jacques Barnard. Barnard was a corporate climber and did his best to uncover Buttercups true nature.
Sadly, before he could succeed, Yoshida’s eight year reign as Chairman was brought to an end. During this era he expanded the corporations holdings in Japan, bought out the “mom and pop consortium” that had founded the company, and brought Yamatetsu in line with the other Japanese megacorporations. Together, they made Japan the world's economic leader.
That all came to an end in 2050 when Todamako Shibanokuji won back his seat as chairman. It was an eight year long struggle, and it showed on Shibanokuji and in his actions. Yamatetsu was changing, and in a direction not in line with traditional Japanese corporate culture. For starters, they began integrating kawaru hito (metahumans) into management positions. Yamatetsu had always focused on metahuman products, but this new move infuriated the intolerant Japanese government. Yamatetsu decided to limit the number of metahumans allowed into management positions to a small number in an effort to appease the government.

Changing Life

Rating

AAA #7 (as of the 2060's)

World Headquarters

Kyoto, Japan

President/CEO

Todamako Shibanokuji (CEO)

Chairman of the Board

Unknown

Corporate Status

Public Corporation

Major Shareholders

• Buttercup (27%)
• Yuri Shibanokuji (19%)
• Saru Iwano (11%)
• Hideo Yoshida (5%)
• Ramon Dizon (3%)
• Newton Chin (3%)