The story
Early history
The company traces its roots to the Mitsubishi conglomerate founded by Yataro Iwasaki. Iwasaki was originally employed by the Tosa clan of modern-day Kōchi Prefecture, who posted him to Nagasaki in the 1860s. During this time, Iwasaki became close to Sakamoto Ryōma, a major figure in the Meiji Restoration that ended the Tokugawa shogunate and restored the nominal primacy of the emperor of Japan in 1867. Iwasaki was placed in charge of the Tosa clan's trading operation, Tsukumo Shokai, based in Osaka. This company changed its name in the following years to Mitsukawa Shokai and then to Mitsubishi Shokai. Around 1871, the company was renamed Mitsubishi Steamship Company and began a mail service between Yokohama and Shanghai with government sponsorship.
Under Iwasaki's leadership in the late 1800s, Mitsubishi diversified its business into insurance (Tokio Marine Insurance Company and Meiji Life Insurance Company), mining (Takashima Coal Mine) and shipbuilding. Following his death in 1885, his successor Yanosuke Iwasaki merged the shipping operation with a rival enterprise to form the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and refocused Mitsubishi's business on coal and copper mining. In 1918, the group's international trading business was spun off to form Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha. Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha served as the parent company of the group through World War II, during which group company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (launched in 1934) produced ships, aircraft and heavy machinery for the war effort.
1945–present
After the war, the administration of Douglas MacArthur called for the dissolution of the "zaibatsu" corporations that dominated the Japanese economy. Mitsubishi was the only major zaibatsu to initially refuse this request, at the orders of the president Koyata Iwasaki, who shortly thereafter fell seriously ill. Mitsubishi eventually dissolved in 1947, and under restrictive rules imposed by the occupation authorities, the employees of the Mitsubishi Shoji trading arm rebranded into 100 separate companies. Beginning in 1950, the restrictions on re-consolidation of the zaibatsu were eased, and by 1952 most of the former Mitsubishi Shoji had coalesced into three companies.
The current Mitsubishi Corporation was founded by the merger of these three companies to form Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha, Ltd. in 1954; Mitsubishi listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Stock Exchange in the same year. It changed its name to "Mitsubishi Corporation" in 1971. Concurrently with its relaunch, Mitsubishi opened fourteen liaison offices outside Japan, as well as a US subsidiary called Mitsubishi International Corporation with offices in New York and San Francisco. By 1960, Mitsubishi had fifty-one overseas offices. Mitsubishi's first large-scale investment outside Japan was a liquefied natural gas project in Brunei, committed to in 1968.
Along with Mitsubishi Bank, Mitsubishi Corporation played a central role in international trading for other constituents of the former Mitsubishi zaibatsu during the postwar era, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Mitsubishi Motor Company, forming a major keiretsu business group centered around the Second Friday Conference (Kinyo-kai) of company managers.
In March 1998 the Mitsubishi Corporation received the quarterly Greenwash Award, which alleged that it falsely portrayed its business operations as environmentally friendly. As of 2009, Mitsubishi held between 35% and 40% of the worldwide market for bluefin tuna.
In the 1950s Mitsubishi showed interest in the iron mining business in Chile which boomed after an export ban was lifted and tax cuts were introduced for iron mining. The corporation proceeded in 1958 to purchase the iron ore deposit of Adrianitas in Atacama Region. This proved a failure as there was no mineral reserve estimation at the time of the purchase and Mitsubishi's later exploration showed them to be much smaller than originally thought. In 1985 Mitsubishi Corporation inaugurated an era of Japanese investment in the Chilean copper mining industry by investing in Minera Escondida. Until 2010 Mitsubishi Corporation owned 50% of Compañia Minera Huasco which operated the iron mine of Los Colorados in Chile. Compañia Minera Huasco was merged into Compañía Minera del Pacífico (CMP) in 2010 and Mitsubishi Corporation obtained a 25% ownership of CMP; 15.9% by the folding and 9.1% by capital injection to CMP. In 2011 Anglo American plc sold a 24.5% stake of copper mining company Anglo American Sur to Mitsubishi Corporation as part of a maneuver to hinder Codelco taking control of a 49% stake.
By 2015 Mitsubishi was again the top-ranked general trading company by net earnings. However, Mitsubishi saw its first postwar net loss in the fiscal year ended March 2016, amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy and a slump in the commodity markets, causing Mitsubishi to lose its #1 position to Itochu.
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In November, 2019, Mitsubishi Corporation stated that it will buy Eneco, a company that focuses on renewable energy, in a deal valuing the Dutch energy firm at $4.52 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway acquired over 5% of the stock in the company, along with four other Japanese trading houses, over the 12-month period ending in August 2020.
In February 2024, TVS Mobility, a distribution and after-sales company, entered into a joint venture with Mitsubishi. TVS Mobility will be renamed TVS Vehicle Mobility Solution (TVS VMS), Mitsubishi will take a 32% stake in the new business by investing ₹300 crore (₹3 billion) and will enter the Indian automotive market.
In December 2024, Mitsubishi Corporation reported a financial loss due to unauthorized trading activities. The company's Singapore-based petroleum unit, Petro-Diamond Singapore, incurred losses of approximately $90 million (13.2 billion yen) from derivatives trading. This incident occurred when a trader who was responsible for crude oil derivatives for China allegedly manipulated the unit's risk management system and conducted unauthorized trades since January. Mitsubishi Corporation stated that they discovered the issue in mid-November during a routine middle office review. The trader in question was fired and reported to the police. The company has also filed a complaint against the trader and is considering taking further legal action.
Mitsubishi was the subject of a boycott by the Rainforest Action Network for its role in the destruction of rainforests through its forestry activities.
In July 2026, Mitsubishi Corporation completed its acquisition of shale-gas production and infrastructure assets from Aethon Energy Management in Texas and Louisiana. The acquisition had been announced in January at US$7.53 billion including debt, making it Mitsubishi Corporation's largest acquisition to date. The assets included natural-gas production in the Haynesville Shale region near LNG export infrastructure on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mitsubishi Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7