Soichiro Fukutake is the Chairman of Benesse Holdings, and has an estimated net worth of $1.05 billion as of May 2016 according to Forbes. He is the 25th richest person on Japan’s 50 Richest List and is ranked 1175th in the list of World Billionaires.

Mr. Fukutake earned some of his estimated net worth of $1.25 billion through his inheritance. He is the eldest son of Tetsuhiko Fukuke, the founder of Fukutake Publishing Co., Ltd., now Benesse Corporation and Benesse Holdings, Inc.

Born in 1945 in Okayama Prefecture, Soichiro Fukutake is a graduate of the School of Science and Engineering in Waseda University. He has worked for Nissei Sangyo Co. Ltd. and later joined Fukutake Publishing in 1973. When his father died in 1976, he brought the Tokyo office to the Okayama headquarters. He had a hard time adjusting to the drastic change in the environment, but after a few months, he felt happy about his move from Tokyo.

Today, Benesse is one of the largest educational services companies in the world. It has acquired Berlitz language school in 2001. It is also branching out beyond prep courses and language instruction into businesses like nursing homes, executive training and translation services. It has been expanding schools and correspondence courses overseas especially in China, Korea and Taiwan.