About

History

Our Value Creation - Evolving with the Times

Recruit Group was launched in 1960 in a small prefabricated rooftop unit in Tokyo. The Group's first product was a job-hunting magazine for university students called "Invitations to Companies," and its goal was to create an open job market for new graduates by widely disclosing recruitment information.Today, we bring individual users and business clients together through a variety of services and solutions that span across the world.

Recruit Group is known for reaching beyond the boundaries of our business and industry in search of ways to solve problems in the world through optimal matching. As society continues to change, Recruit Group's mission remains the same: to create "Opportunities for Life" by prioritizing social value, delivering information to those who need it with speed and convenience, and providing opportunities for everyone to discover the best choices for themselves. We strive to create value by nurturing the potential of each individual and betting on the will and passion of curious minds to correct disadvantages in the world.

Today, in the face of unprecedented change, our mission is more relevant than ever and our services and solutions are constantly evolving to become faster, simpler, and more accessible. As looking back our history, we have traced Recruit Group's history of value creation along three axes: business field expansion, digital transformation, and globalization.

Business Fields Expansion

Recruit Group was established in 1960 as a job search magazine for university students. In 1962, we developed the “Ribbon Model”, our guiding business model in which we create platforms that connect business clients with individual users. With this model, we have since widened our range of HR businesses to meet mid-career recruiting, placement, and staffing needs. We have also expanded into the life events and lifestyle fields to serve the housing, automobile, bridal, travel, dining, and beauty industries. Recently, we have introduced software as a service (“SaaS”) business tools to support operations within small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”), such as retailers and restaurants.

Digital Transformation

The Company began using computers at a time when their use was still limited, putting digitization into practice for increased efficiency. Following the introduction of a supercomputer in the 1980s, we transitioned from paper magazines to online media in the 1990s, and then to mobile platforms. Not only did this allow for faster and more convenient delivery of information, but it also transformed how individual users and business clients interact, through the development of groundbreaking tools such as online reservation systems. Today we continue the evolution of digital solutions through the development of SaaS solutions.

Globalization

In the 2000s, the Company entered the global market with a bridal business in China. Although this ended with a withdrawal, this experience helped us to shape our mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) strategy, and we later succeeded in expanding our staffing businesses to the US, Europe, Australia and beyond. Further, the acquisitions of Indeed, Inc.* in 2012 and Glassdoor, Inc.* in 2018 have led to the successful establishment of our HR Technology SBU, spearheading the growth of the Company as a whole and bringing the number of countries we serve to over 60.

  • 1960s

    • 1960

      Foundation. Started as an advertising agency specializing in job ads in university newspapers.

    • 1962

      Published Invitation to Companies which consolidated recruitment information for university students and established the two-sided marketplace business model.

    • 1963

      Japan Recruit Center, Inc. was established, a predecessor to today’s Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.

    • 1968

      Introduced the IBM 1130 Computing System, becoming the first company in Japan to use this groundbreaking computer..

    • 1970s

    • 1971

      Established Recruit Computer Print, a company specializing in digitized pre-production processes focused on adopting leading-edge publishing technologies.

    • 1976

      Launched operations in the housing information industry in response to the oil crisis induced recession, and achieved rapid growth.

    • 1980s

    • 1980

      Launched Travail, Japan’s first career change magazine for women, published 5 years prior to Japan’s legislative enactment of The Equal Employment Opportunity Law.

    • 1984

      Changed the company name to Recruit Co., Ltd.

    • 1984

      Launched the magazine Car Sensor. It was born from a training program for new employees and focused on the used car market.

    • 1985

      Against the backdrop of the privatization of Japan's telecommunications industry, launched Information Network Service operations and Remote Computing Service operations.

    • 1985

      Established Recruit U.S.A. Inc. to support Japanese companies with local hiring in the US.

    • 1987

      Established the Supercomputer Research Institute, aimed at developing insights into how to meet the challenges and opportunities of the approaching era of a data-driven society.

    • 1990s

    • 1990s

      Launched Jalan, a magazine about travel and leisure optimized for easier booking.

    • 1993

      Launched Zexy, a bridal information magazine born from our new internal business proposal system, "Ring."

    • 1995

      Launched Mix Juice (Currently ISIZE) marking the start of our online media business.

    • 1996

      Digitized our job information magazines and launched RB on the NET (Currently Rikunabi) and Digital B-ing (Currently Rikunabi Next).

    • 2000s

    • 2000

      While the Company expanded its businesses in the field of life events such as housing and bridal, it also launched lifestyle information magazine HotPepper (Currently Hot Pepper Gourmet) which contains dining guides and coupons.

    • 2000

      Launched ISIZE Travel (Currently Jalan net), a platform for making accommodation reservations online.

    • 2004

      Launched the bridal information magazine Zexy in China. This experience helped the Company shape M&A strategy for global expansion.

    • 2007

      Launched Hot Pepper Beauty, an online beauty salon appointment reservation service.

    • 2008

      Moved the headquarters to Gran Tokyo SOUTH TOWER (Marunouchi 1-9-2, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan)

    • 2010s

    • 2010

      Acquired US-based staffing company, The CSI Companies, Inc.* and implemented our Unit Management System. With this acquisition, we began M&A-driven global expansion.

    • 2011

      Launched Juken Sapuri (Currently Study Sapuri), an online learning service for college entrance exams, then expanded into languages and other subjects, successfully growing into an affordable high-quality online learning platform.

    • 2011

      Acquired US-based staffing company, The CSI Companies, Inc.* and implemented our Unit Management System. With this acquisition, we began M&A-driven global expansion.

    • 2012

      Developed SALON BOARD, a cloud-based online reservation management system that improves operational efficiency at beauty salons through digitization, replacing paper-based reservation books.

    • 2012

      Through an incorporation-type split the Company became a holding company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., and established the following companies:
      - Recruit Sumai Company Ltd.
      - Recruit Marketing Partners Co., Ltd.
      - Recruit Lifestyle Co., Ltd.
      - Recruit Technologies Co., Ltd.

      Through a joint incorporation-type split by Recruit Office Support Co., Ltd.* newly established:
      - Recruit Administration Co., Ltd. (Currently Recruit Co., Ltd.)*

      Through an absorption-type split, transferred businesses to the following 100% subsidiaries of the Company:
      - Recruit Agent Co., Ltd. (Currently Recruit Career Co., Ltd.)
      - Recruit HR Marketing (Currently Recruit Jobs Co., Ltd.)
      - Recruit Media Communications Co., Ltd. (Currently
      Recruit Communications Co., Ltd.)

    • 2012

      Acquired Indeed, Inc.* (founded in 2004), a job search engine based in the US. This marked our full entry into the HR technology business, which has since revolutionized the HR industry through disruptive digital innovation.

    • 2013

      Released AirREGI, a point of sale (POS) system for SMEs of various industries such as retailers and restaurants, using smartphones and tablets to enhance operational efficiency of their businesses.

    • 2014

      Listed publicly on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

    • 2015

      Expanded AirREGI’s functions and also launched AirPAY, a payment system service that accepts various payment methods including credit cards, electronic money, and QR Codes*1.

      *1 QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INC.

    • 2015

      Established Recruit Institute of Technology (Currently Megagon Labs) to work with external organizations on research and development of AI, machine learning, and other new technologies.

    • 2015

      Acquired the staffing companies Peoplebank Australia Ltd* in January and Chandler Macleod Group Limited* in April, companies with leading market positions and strong business fundamentals in the Australian market.

    • 2016

      Launched Indeed Hire, an innovative recruitment service that goes beyond the job advertisement business.

    • 2016

      Acquired USG People Holdings B.V. (Currently RGF Staffing B.V.)*, a leading European staffing company with a presence in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Belgium among other countries, marking our full entry into Europe.

    • 2018

      Reorganized the Company and established a managing company for each SBU that oversees the operation of its subsidiary companies:
      - HR Technology SBU: RGF OHR USA, Inc.*
      - Media & Solutions SBU (Currently Matching & Solutions SBU): Recruit Co., Ltd.* (Former Recruit Administration)
      - Staffing SBU: Recruit Global Staffing B.V. (Currently RGF Staffing B.V.)*

    • 2018

      Launched AirSHIFT, a system for the management of shift work using a SaaS solution, thereby contributing to operational efficiency in the service industry where labor shortages are a major problem.

    • 2018

      Acquired Glassdoor, Inc.*, a leading online job and company information site founded in the US in 2007. Glassdoor has developed a database of information and reviews posted by users, bringing transparency to the job seeking process and strengthening our HR Technology business.

    • 2018

      Launched Indeed Assessments, a platform that helps employers automate the screening process so they can quickly find candidates with the skills they need.

    • 2020s

    • 2020

      Launched Indeed Interview, a video interviewing platform designed specifically for interviewing and hiring, which was created to allow employers to quickly adapt to virtual hiring needs during the pandemic so job seekers could interview safely from the convenience of their homes.

    • 2021

      Launched Indeed Hiring Platform, a new solution that allows employers to manage the hiring process – from posting through interview – directly on Indeed, with no additional software. Job seekers who meet an employers' objective job criteria can automatically advance to an interview.

    • 2021

      The following mergers were carried out in the Media & Solutions business (Currently Matching & Solutions Business).

      Integration of seven core operating companies and functional companies into Recruit Co., Ltd., SBU Headquarters.
      - Recruit Sumai Company Ltd.
      - Recruit Lifestyle Co., Ltd.
      - Recruit Marketing Partners Co., Ltd.
      - Recruit Career Co., Ltd.
      - Recruit Jobs Co., Ltd.
      - Recruit Communications Co., Ltd.
      - Recruit Technologies Co., Ltd.

    • 2021

      Launched AirWALLET with COIN+ compatibility, the free and easy-to-use digital account management and payment application allows users to seamlessly manage, charge, transfer, and withdraw money with COIN+.

    • 2021

      Launched AirWORK Applicant Tracking System (ATS), a hiring management system that allows users to create hiring websites and duplicate to Indeed for free.

    • 2021

      Announced its Commitment to Sustainability, which is to create a positive impact on society and the environment through all our corporate activities, and launched its goals in environmental, social, and governance (ESG), aiming to achieve them by FY2030.

    • 2022

      Launched AirCASH, a financial service that allows businesses to cash out future sales.

    • 2022

      Launched AirINVOICE, an invoice management service that enables users to make payments from their smartphones.

    • 2022

      In accordance with the Tokyo Stock Exchange's market-segment restructuring, Recruit Holdings’ stock was transferred from the First Section to the Prime Market.

    • 2022

      Change the registered location of the head office to Gran Tokyo SOUTH TOWER (Marunouchi 1-9-2, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan)

* Consolidated subsidiaries as of March 31, 2023.
”Currently” in the chart above shows the name as of March 31, 2023.