Takafumi Horie, businessman and former CEO of Livedoor
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2025 9:26 am
Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1972. Started an internet business while studying at Tokyo University in 1996. Changed the company name to Livedoor Co., Ltd. in 2004. Acquired over 40% of Nippon Broadcasting System shares in 2005, becoming the largest shareholder. Arrested by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office Special Investigation Division in January 2006 on suspicion of violating the Securities and Exchange Act, and sentenced to two and a half years in prison in the first instance (appeal dismissed). Currently appealing. His paid e-mail magazine "Stories I Can't Tell on My Blog" has over 12,000 subscribers. He is scheduled to publish "Cosmology" (Kodansha), which discusses space business, soon. *At the time of magazine publication
I eat out 340 days out of the 365 days of remove background image the year. Even if I cook at home, I can't eat a variety of things, and the worst thing is having leftovers. I don't care about the genre of the restaurant I go to, as long as it's delicious. I don't care about the atmosphere or price. I chose both "Aso" and "Kamekichi" for their taste.
In the paid e-mail newsletter I started about a year ago, I introduce restaurants I've been to every week. However, if I introduce a reasonable restaurant, I can't go there myself. For example, there is a high-quality yakitori restaurant called "SHIRO" in Hokkaido that also has a selection of wines, but after I introduced it, reservations immediately became unavailable. However, that's not the case for restaurants that are a little on the expensive side. "That place" is a little on the expensive side, so I think it's okay.
The e-mail newsletter has definitely grown compared to the previous month. The number of subscribers is just over 10,000. I think now is the age of the individual. When I started publishing the e-mail newsletter, I was thinking about electronic publishing and other things, and I started saying that the age of personal media is coming. It's an age where everyone trusts the curation (information discerning) of a person by name and creates a portfolio. In other words, a restaurant that only offered omakase dishes up until now has started offering a la carte dishes and customers can choose for themselves.
I eat out 340 days out of the 365 days of remove background image the year. Even if I cook at home, I can't eat a variety of things, and the worst thing is having leftovers. I don't care about the genre of the restaurant I go to, as long as it's delicious. I don't care about the atmosphere or price. I chose both "Aso" and "Kamekichi" for their taste.
In the paid e-mail newsletter I started about a year ago, I introduce restaurants I've been to every week. However, if I introduce a reasonable restaurant, I can't go there myself. For example, there is a high-quality yakitori restaurant called "SHIRO" in Hokkaido that also has a selection of wines, but after I introduced it, reservations immediately became unavailable. However, that's not the case for restaurants that are a little on the expensive side. "That place" is a little on the expensive side, so I think it's okay.
The e-mail newsletter has definitely grown compared to the previous month. The number of subscribers is just over 10,000. I think now is the age of the individual. When I started publishing the e-mail newsletter, I was thinking about electronic publishing and other things, and I started saying that the age of personal media is coming. It's an age where everyone trusts the curation (information discerning) of a person by name and creates a portfolio. In other words, a restaurant that only offered omakase dishes up until now has started offering a la carte dishes and customers can choose for themselves.