01 September 2023, Mumbai
Uniqlo, the distinguished brand renowned for its ready-to-wear attire and flagship label within the Japanese conglomerate Fast Retailing, announced a significant development on Monday. The brand introduced Daisuke Tsukagoshi, aged 44, as the new Chief Operating Officer.
Role & responsibility
In this role, Tsukagoshi's primary responsibility is to provide crucial support to the founder and CEO, Tadashi Yanai, aged 74. Having been overseeing Uniqlo's global day-to-day operations since the previous year's September, Daisuke Tsukagoshi is set to take on multiple pivotal positions starting this Friday.
This includes assuming the responsibilities of Executive Director, President, and Chief Operating Officer at Uniqlo Co., the entity with oversight over all brand-related activities. Tsukagoshi also holds leadership in Fast Retailing's endeavors in North America, a region that witnessed the company's first-time profitability during the 2021/22 fiscal year.
Growth centric
With robust expansion plans for this region in the forthcoming years, the company's aspirations are significant. As of now, there's no official successor named by Tadashi Yanai, leading to conjecture whenever one of his key associates is promoted to a notable role.
Despite this, Yanai's two sons, Kazumi and Koji Yanai, have been active members of Fast Retailing's board of directors since 2018.
Background; It's worth noting that during this period, Yanai repeatedly dismissed any notion of establishing a family-oriented succession strategy.
Back in 2019, Yanai publicly conveyed his preference for a woman to eventually take the helm of his expansive business empire.