TOKYO (AFP) – Takeda Pharmaceuticals has named Julie Kim as the first woman to lead the 244-year-old Japanese drugmaker, a rarity in senior management in the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Kim, a United States (US) citizen and head of the firm’s US business, will next year succeed Christophe Weber who in 2015 became the drugmaker’s first non-Japanese CEO, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
French-born Weber oversaw a reorientation that included the USD62 billion acquisition of British rival Shire in 2019.
But its share price has underperformed, falling 0.5 per cent over the past five years. Its US-listed shares have dropped almost 30 per cent in the same period.
There are only 13 women chief executive officers across the approximately 1,600 top-listed companies in Japan, according to a survey published by Kyodo News last year.
The government wants firms to raise the proportion of female executives to 30 per cent or more by 2030.
In fiscal 2023, the figure was 16.2 per cent, compared with rates of 30-40 per cent in North America and Europe, Kyodo said.
“Takeda is a unique company, and I am deeply honoured to have been chosen to lead it,” Kim was quoted as saying in the statement.
Her appointment will be voted on by shareholders in June 2026.
