It’s been just four months since VTuber Management firm Anycolor Inc has been public. And 26-year-old owner Riku Tazumi is already worth $1.1billion, making him the youngest living billionaire in Japan.
The land of the rising sun, Japan has been renowned for its anime culture and is home to many successful VTubers (virtual YouTubers). Tazumi’s company, Anycolor Inc. manages the cerebral force behind these digital avatars produced.
The company manages close to 140 creators with each working on a different animated character for the streaming giant YouTube.
After getting listed on the Japanese Stock Exchange in June 2022, the company an eightfold jump in revenue and profits. It was declared as one of the best performers in the market and its valuation is about 370 billion yen, which amounts to approximately $2.5 billion.
Riku Tazumi owns a 45%stake, which is valued at $1.1 billion, and this comes even after the yen saw its lowest valuation in decades against the US Dollar.
At the age of 17, Tazumi started his Tokyo-based firm calling it ‘Ichikara’, which translates into ‘from scratch. His goal was to make the entertainment company a next-generation one, something that wouldn’t be “bound by the traditional framework of the industry,”. It was then named Anycolor.
The biggest VTubers from Anycolor Inc, are members of the massively successful supergroup Nijisanji. Two standouts from Nijisanji are Kanae and Kuzuha, which were recently declared one of the most-watched streams on YouTube Gaming.
The company reported an operating profit margin of 36% for the July quarter.
According to Masahiro Hasewaga, an analyst in Tokyo, “Talent agencies have traditionally been an extremely strong business within Japan. People are betting that this is the next generation of such businesses,” the report mentioned.
With over 40 billionaires living in Japan, Tazumi is the youngest one. He also made it to the Forbes’ 30 under 30 in 2020.
