Shimano handed its presidency to Taizo Shimano at the company's centenary

On 9 February 2021, Shimano — the world's largest bicycle-components maker, still controlled by its founding family — gave notice of changes in its representative directors, effective after the shareholders' meeting.

At the 114th General Meeting of Shareholders on 30 March 2021, the new structure took effect: outgoing president Yozo Shimano, the fifth president and first from the third family generation, moved up to chairman and CEO, and the presidency passed to Taizo Shimano, who joined the company in 1991 and had led its Fishing Tackle Division as senior executive vice president.

The handover coincided with the company's centenary — Shimano was founded on 21 March 1921 — and the new president framed it as a renewal of purpose: 'Closer to Nature, Closer to People', with responsibility to protect the natural environment and contribute to local communities.

The board changes also reshaped the executive team: Keiji Kakutani became senior advisor and Takashi Toyoshima deputy president, keeping the management bench deep and family-led.

A clean generational handover at the world's largest bike-components maker: the sixth president took office days after the 100th anniversary, family control intact.

The outgoing president stayed in the group as chairman and CEO, preserving continuity of strategy.

The successor had thirty years inside the company, including full profit-and-loss responsibility for a division.

A centenary gave the change symbolic weight, aligning employees and dealers behind the new president.

Deputy and advisor posts kept institutional memory inside the leadership.

Time the handover to a natural milestone: Shimano's president change landed on the centenary, so the new leader inherited a story of continuity, not a crisis.

Taizo Shimano has continued as president through the pandemic bicycle boom, and the founding family remains firmly in control of the group. The 2021 change stands as a founder-family handover executed at the company's own anniversary.