Mercari, Inc. (“Mercari”) announces that it will be making changes to its management structure. As of January 1, 2024, Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace) Masato Yamamoto will be appointed to the position of Executive Officer, Senior Vice President of Japan Region (“head of Mercari Group’s Japan businesses”). In tandem with this change, Director, Chief Operation Officer Fintech (Merpay, Inc. and Mercoin, Inc.) Takeshi Nagasawa will also be appointed Chief Executive Officer (Fintech) and Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer of Merpay, Inc., effective the aforementioned date.
| Name | New Title | Old Title |
| Masato Yamamoto | Executive Officer, Senior Vice President of Japan Region, Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace), and Director of Merpay, Inc. | Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace), Chief Executive Officer (Fintech), and Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer of Merpay, Inc. |
| Takeshi Nagasawa | Chief Executive Officer (Fintech), Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer of Merpay, Inc., and Chief Operation Officer Fintech (Mercoin, Inc.) | Chief Operation Officer Fintech (Merpay, Inc.) / Chief Operation Officer Fintech (Mercoin, Inc.) |
Note that Naoki Aoyagi, the current Senior Vice President of Japan Region, will resign from his position effective December 31, 2023.
During his tenure as Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace) and Chief Executive Officer (Fintech), Yamamoto has strived to implement a variety of initiatives across Marketplace and Fintech. As the head of Mercari Group’s Japan businesses, going forward he will focus on the strategic strengthening of various businesses launched in the Japan Region and on further enhancing the creation of synergy for business growth.
In 2021, Nagasawa joined Merpay, Inc., where he was in charge of the growth of the Merpay mobile payment service. He next went on to manage the business growth of the Group’s fintech operations. In his position as Chief Executive Officer (Fintech) and Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer of Merpay, Inc., he will aim to accelerate further growth in order to create circular finance going forward.
Profiles
Masato Yamamoto
Yamamoto completed his master’s in the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo in 2004. After working at NTT Docomo, he began working as the Head of Partner Sales in the Enterprise Division at Google Japan in 2008. In 2014, he became the Head of Business Development and Sales at Square Japan, and in 2016, he became the Head of Apple Pay Merchant Business at Apple Japan. He joined Merpay as Chief Business Officer in April 2018, where he oversaw general business operations, such as credit design and merchant development. In January 2022, he assumed the role of Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer of Merpay, Inc. He was later appointed Vice President, Chief Executive Officer (Fintech) at Mercari and joined Mercoin’s Board of Directors in July 2022. In November 2023, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace).
Takeshi Nagasawa
After graduating from Hitotsubashi University’s Faculty of Management and Commerce in 2007, Nagasawa joined NTT Communications, where he was in charge of marketing and business development. He went on to complete his MBA at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2016, he joined Amazon Japan as manager of the Amazon Prime Video marketing team. He joined bitFlyer in 2018, becoming the head of executive business strategy the following year. In 2021, he joined Merpay, where he oversaw growth for Merpay and Mercoin as Vice President of Growth (Fintech) starting in July 2022. He was appointed Vice President, Chief Operation Officer Fintech (Merpay, Inc.) / Chief Operation Officer Fintech (Mercoin, Inc.) in April 2023 and subsequently appointed to the additional role of Vice President of Marketing (Marketplace) in June 2023.
Under this new management structure, Mercari Group will continue to strive to achieve its mission: “Circulate all forms of value to unleash the potential in all people.”