The story
Founding and early history
Gaba was founded in 1995 by Karen and Hideki Yoshino. It was originally a matching service for students and teachers, and lessons were conducted in various locations, such as coffee shops or at teachers' homes. From 2000, the company established schools, referred to as "Learning Studios" where students, referred to as clients, and teachers, referred to as instructors, met, and lessons were conducted.
In March 2004, Chutatsu Aono (青野 仲達) became the president and CEO.
In July 2004, Gaba was purchased by NIF Capital Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of NIF Ventures Co Ltd, in turn a subsidiary of Daiwa Securities. According to the Nikkei Shimbun, the price was several billion yen. It went public in December 2006, and had a valuation of 11.39 billion yen. The majority stockholder was Daiwa Securities, which owned 60.38% of Gaba's stock.
Due to declining business performance the firm underwent a major transformation at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. In October 2008, Kenji Kamiyama joined the company as COO and Senior Managing Executive Officer. In March 2009 he replaced Chutatsu Aono as president and CEO, and the position of COO was abolished. Kamiyama's focus was to reduce "wasteful expenditure" and to lead a rejuvenation of the profit and loss and balance sheets. During Aono's presidency the firm expanded its number of Learning Studios, but also maintained its headquarters in the expensive GT Tower in Nakameguro, launched the ill-fated Global Stars initiative, and made decisions such as holding its company sports day in May 2007 at Tokyo Dome.
The firm reported having over 18,000 students in September 2010.
On August 5, 2011, it was announced that Nichii Gakkan would purchase Gaba and make it a wholly owned subsidiary. This takeover was effective as of September 29, 2011.
Following Gaba's sale to Nichii Gakkan, effective December 5, 2011 Kenji Kamiyama stepped down as president, chief executive officer and Representative Director of Gaba, and was replaced by Bruce Anderson, and Takayuki Masuda became the vice-president. On March 29, 2012, Masuda succeeded Anderson as president.
In November 2013 it was reported that Gaba had 21,300 students.
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President Takayuki Masuda was replaced by Masatoshi Saito on April 1, 2015. He was replaced by Daisuke Terada on December 1, 2017. Terada will be replaced by Makoto Nakamura on April 1, 2020.
Stock Price as a publicly listed company
Gaba went public on December 5, 2006, and was listed as TYO: 2133 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Its initial stock price opened at 255,000 yen per share, but the prices gradually fell from this level to the point where on March 4, 2009, the stock price was closing at 13,900 yen. After that the stock price gradually rose, reaching 162,700 on March 7, 2011. After the Tohoku earthquake it fell, at its lowest point closing at 82,100 on March 15. Subsequently, it rebounded, and after the August 5, 2011 announcement that Nichii Gakkan had launched a take over bid for Gaba paying 200,000 yen per share, the stock price rose to 199,000 on August 15, 2011. The tender offer opened August 8 and expired September 21. As of September 29, 2011 Nichii Gakkan owned 98.88% of Gaba's shares and Daiwa Securities held no voting rights in Gaba.
In 2011 Gaba became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nichii Gakkan. which purchased the company a from Daiwa Securities and other shareholders for 10,100,000,000 yen; on November 30, 2011, Gaba corporation's stock was removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nichii Gakkan expected Gaba to begin contributing to business results from the second half of fiscal year 2012, with net sales of 4,300,000,000 and an operating income of 400,000,000.
Learning Studio history
Gaba has added at least one Learning Studio every year from 2000 onward. Generally, they are named after the area they are located in, although some are named after the station they are closest to. The first were opened in March 2000, with the Ikebukuro, Shibuya, Jiyugaoka and Yokohama schools.
On July 13, 2005, Gaba opened a 'next generation' learning studio designed specifically for women in Ginza. It provided VIP "executive booths" that afforded complete privacy for the lesson. English conversation schools often gear marketing campaigns towards women, with strategies the focus on couplings between Japan and the other, represented and embodied by professional/romantic/sexual pairings between western instructors and female Japanese students. The Ginza LS was later moved to Yurakucho, and no longer caters to an exclusively female clientele.
By May 1, 2017, the firm has forty-five Learning Studios in Japan. The vast majority of them are located in the Kanto region (34), with the remaining LSs being in Chubu (2), Kansai (6) and Kyushu (1).
As of May 2020, clients can choose to take their lessons in the studio or online. Instructors continue to teach from their respective Learning Studios. In light of the pandemic, all instructors are required to wear both masks and face shields during offline lessons and masks in online lessons.
In late 2020, Gaba closed 10 of its Learning Studios (Hiroshima LS, Kyoto Ekimae LS, Sendai LS, Tsukuba LS, Sapporo LS, Aobadai LS, Fukuoka-Tenjin LS, Omotesando LS, Roppongi LS, Shimokitazawa LS) and a further 4 studios at the end of 2020 (Akasaka LS, Shinjuku East LS, Shimbashi LS, Tokyo LS).
Headquarters
Until November 2009, the firm had two buildings, the "Support Centre" in the GT Tower in Nakameguro, effectively the company headquarters and a "Quality Centre", where training was conducted in Ebisu. From November 16, 2009, the Support Centre moved to "Round Cross Moto-Yoyogi" building (now known as "Glass City") in Moto-yoyogi in Shibuya-ku, and on November 24 the "Quality Centre" did so too. After the closure of the Ikebukuro Annex, Gaba's Japanese classes, "Jaba", relocated there also.
On August 11, 2014, Gaba's headquarters moved to the "Shinjuku Front Tower" in Kita-Shinjuku.
Global Stars and Gaba Kids
In early 2008 Global Stars, a section of the business for teaching one-on-one lessons to children was launched. There were designated "Learning Fields" established in Hiroo and Seijo, as well as "Learning Field-enabled Learning Studios" in Ebisu and Tachikawa. There was not enough demand; the Learning Fields in Hiroo and Seijo were closed in 2009, and Gaba Global Stars was merged into a number of regular leaning studios. From 1 September 2009, Gaba Global Stars was officially re-branded Gaba Kids. It is offered in a number of Learning Studios in the Kanto area and Gaba.
In November 2015 Gaba launched "and Gaba.", a free conversation space in Shibuya, Tokyo.
From Wikipedia’s article on Gaba Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4