Gaba Corporation - Founding and History

Founding and History

Gaba was founded in 1995 by Karen and Hideki Yoshino. It was originally a matching service for students and teachers, and lessons were conducted in various locations, such as coffee shops or at teachers' homes. From 2000, the company established schools, referred to as "Learning Studios" where students, referred to as clients, and teachers, referred to as instructors, met, and lessons were conducted.

In March 2004, Chutatsu Aono (青野 仲達) became the president and CEO.

In July 2004, Gaba was purchased by NIF Capital Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of NIF Ventures Co Ltd, in turn a subsidiary of Daiwa Securities. According to the Nikkei Shimbun, the price was several billion yen.

It went public in December 2006, and had a valuation of 11.39 billion yen. The majority stockholder was Daiwa Securities, which owned 60.38% of Gaba's stock.

Due to declining business performance Gaba underwent a major transformation at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. In October 2008, Kenji Kamiyama joined the company as COO and Senior Managing Executive Officer. In March 2009 he replaced Chutatsu Aono as President and CEO, and the position of COO was abolished. Kamiyama's focus was to reduce "wasteful expenditure" and to lead a rejuvenation of the profit and loss and balance sheets. During Aono's presidency Gaba expanded its number of Learning Studios, but also maintained its headquarters in the expensive GT Tower in Nakameguro, launched the ill-fated Global Stars initiative, and made decisions such as holding its company sports day in May 2007 at Tokyo Dome.

In January 2011, Gaba reported having over 18,000 students in September 2010.

On August 5, 2011, it was announced that Nichii Gakkan would purchase Gaba and make it a wholly owned subsidiary. This takeover was effective as of September 29, 2011.

Following Gaba's sale to Nichii Gakkan, effective December 5, 2011 Kenji Kamiyama stepped down as President, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director of Gaba, and was replaced by Bruce Anderson, and Takayuki Masuda became the Vice-President. On March 29, 2012 Masuda succeeded Anderson as president.