is the founder

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 of the Nomura Group

Nomura Group

The formerly Nomura zaibatsu is a company headquartered in Chuo, Tokyo.Nomura is one of the major industrial and financial conglomerate groupings of Japan. Osaka Nomura bank was founded by Tokushichi Nomura II in 1919 after many successful business ventures; it was established on the Mitsui...

 zaibatsu

Zaibatsu

is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed for control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of World War II.-Terminology:...

 who formed Nomura Securities in 1925. He was born in present-day Yao

Yao, Osaka

is a city in Osaka, Japan.As of 2009, the city has an estimated population of 271,454 and the density of 6,510 persons per km². The total area is 41.71 km².Yao is home to a general aviation airport, Yao Airport.The city was founded on April 1, 1948....

, Osaka

Osaka Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :...

. He was known in childhood as Shinnosuke. In 1928, he was appointed to the House of Peers

House of Peers (Japan)

The ' was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ....

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

First fortune

Shinnosuke made his first fortune in 1915, investing in Fukushima Boseki, a textile company that was widely believed to be headed for bankruptcy. Shinnosuke knew better: He was a friend of the firm's founder Yutaro Yasuhiro. One day, after a hefty sell-off of the firm's shares, Shinnosuke moved quickly, pestering the management to show him their books. The firm showed bulging order books, the factory was running at full capacity, and the profits had never been better.

After seeing the books, he went to the floor of the Osaka exchange

Osaka Securities Exchange

is the second largest securities exchange in Japan, in terms of amount of business handled. As of 31 December 2007, the Osaka Securities Exchange had 477 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $212 billion. The Nikkei 225 Futures, introduced at the Osaka Securities Exchange in...

 and began quietly buying Fukushima Boseki's shares at 20 yen. He kept buying until the price rose to 30 yen

Japanese yen

The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...

. A number of traders had sold the stock short and began to panic. Shinnosuke had bought up most of the available shares. Thus the panic began to drive up the price. Nomura sat back and watched the price rise continually from 35, then 40, 45, and 50. By the end of 1905 the shares had risen to 100 yen, quadrupling Nomura's investment.