Why is Toyota not on the rich list?
2 Answers
Because the Toyota family only holds 2% of the shares in Toyota. Social concept: This reflects the social and national attributes of Japan: fairness. Japan has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and one of the smallest Gini coefficients (indicating very small wealth gaps). Japanese society values fairness. For example, in anti-Japanese war dramas, although the Japanese army is portrayed as brutal, no drama depicts Japanese officers embezzling military funds or being cowardly, which reflects the fairness in Japanese society. Management model: The management model of Japanese society is to ensure everyone has food to eat. Leaders are also human; their salaries are higher but not outrageously so—typically about 5 to 10 times higher than those of employees.
I've always enjoyed studying the history and current state of different car brands. When I heard someone ask why Toyota isn't on the rich list, I realized there's actually a misunderstanding here. Wealth rankings like the Forbes list primarily focus on individual wealth, such as the personal assets of company founders or family members. However, Toyota is a large public corporation, not an individual entity. While Akio Toyoda, the current chairman, has accumulated considerable family wealth through shareholdings, the top spots on the Forbes list are usually occupied by founder-entrepreneurs like Tesla's Musk who hold highly concentrated shares. Toyota's shares, in contrast, are dispersed among numerous investors, with assets not concentrated in the hands of a few individuals. From an automotive perspective, Toyota places greater emphasis on teamwork and global supply chains. In this model, individual wealth doesn't stand out too prominently, but instead results in higher vehicle quality and cost performance. The global success of the Prius, for example, stems from collective wisdom rather than making any single individual extremely wealthy. I believe this better reflects Toyota's brand spirit: being user-centric rather than pursuing wealth rankings for its executives.
