Since our establishment in 1999, we have operated an internet-only business under our corporate mission to “Contribute to Information Revolution by Innovating Professional Media”.
Looking back over the history of technological innovation, the invention of the computer in the US in the 1940s was one of humanity’s greatest inventions, followed by the birth of the internet, which began to gain widespread use in Japan in the 1990s. At that time, I was supervising SoftBank’s publishing business when I began to witness this significant paradigm shift. Therefore, I founded ITmedia Inc. with the ambition of creating a new media business for the internet age. Today, as one of the largest online media companies in Japan, we operate a number of specialized media focused on the technology domain.

The internet has continued to evolve since its inception and it has driven a social shift to digital technology, including the explosive popularization of smartphones and social media. This has been a huge wave that has enriched human society. ITmedia has adapted to this progress by taking on the ongoing challenge of developing business models that leverage our business foundation of internet-only media. We have been able to establish new sources of revenue, starting with a lead generation service that uses digital content to engage technology buyers and sellers, then successfully developing digital events, as well as launching Netolabo, a new media developed in response to the explosive surge in smartphone and social media usage. Our subsidiary company Hacchu Navi Inc. is growing a business that matches systems development companies with customers seeking their services.

At the time of our establishment, the majority of our revenues were generated based on an advertising model, but now, over half are generated by models based on customer acquisition, with a focus on Lead Generation. I think the way we use the unique characteristics of digital media to create diverse revenue models is one of our greatest strengths.

We now own media covering a wide range of areas, from specialist IT information such as AI, the cloud, and SaaS, to industrial technologies used in industries including manufacturing and electronics. Society’s shift toward digital technology is now an irreversible trend, so I am confident we will be able provide even greater value going forward.

In recent years, the progress of DX has increased the presence of digital technology in areas from corporate activities to people’s lifestyles, and the influence of technology continues to grow. Demand for digitalization among Japanese companies is flourishing, and at present, interest in activities involving Generative-AI is extremely high in every industry. We are responding to this change by leveraging our comprehensive capabilities to strengthen our AI-related content, so we can become the No. 1 media in this field. Furthermore, we are also using Generative-AI to make our content creation and operational processes more efficient. Going forward, we will adapt to the boom in Generative-AI-related markets by contributing to society through a media innovation.

Although consolidated revenue and income and profits declined in FY2023, revenues from Degital Events and Programmatic Ads are beginning to rise. In order to achieve our medium-term target of 4 billion yen in operating income by FY2029, we will focus on 3 growth strategies. These are to expand our media in industry fields where digitalization, including AI, is making progress, to innovate our services by establishing data infrastructure, and to use AI in-house.
In regard to shareholder returns, we aim to balance the return of profits to shareholders with medium- to long-term growth, and our dividend policy is to considerably increase dividends in line with our medium-term targets. Our planned payout ratio for the current fiscal year is over 100%, and going forward, we intend to maintain high ratios of at least 70%.

We will continue to meet the expectations of shareholders and investors through our business activities while also contributing to society by developing technology and media in a fair and enriching manner. We look forward to your ongoing interest and support.