Mitsubishi Corporation

What should a corporation look like in the future? "When I joined Mitsubishi Corporation in 1985, our role was largely about connecting suppliers with buyers. That model has fundamentally evolved. Today, we connect businesses, capabilities and expertise to create new value."

If AI gives us more time, how should we use it? AI can reduce hours of research to minutes. But that doesn’t make human experience less important. The time we gain should be spent in the field, meeting people, seeing businesses firsthand and experiencing things for ourselves. In the AI era, that may matter more than ever.

Change creates opportunity. From geopolitical uncertainty to AI, change has shaped how I think about business and leadership. For corporations with diverse capabilities, change creates opportunities to connect businesses in new ways and rethink what is possible.

The strength of a corporation doesn’t come from any single business. It comes from connecting them. Across energy, power, chemicals, food and retail, Mitsubishi Corporation brings together businesses and capabilities across the value chain. We call this our “integrated strength”, creating new possibilities by connecting what already exists.

From Trading House to Value-Chain Builder https://lnkd.in/gDUCkE9U Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has evolved from a traditional sogo shosha into a global, diversified investor and operator of businesses. MC does not define a sogo shosha as a mere supply-chain intermediary. Its ambition is to build value chains by owning and linking businesses and assets across multiple stages. The company’s core strength lies in combining capabilities across areas such as power, LNG, chemicals, food distribution and retail to create new, integrated solutions. That approach was evident in early 2026, when MC agreed to acquire Aethon’s shale gas business in Louisiana and Texas, for a total equity investment of approximately $5.2bn. As MC’s CEO, Katsuya Nakanishi, puts it, “We have our own gas, our own LNG facility, our own power plants. We connect the chain.” Powered by industry expertise, a global network, intelligence capabilities, financial stability, and trusted partnerships, MC continues to grow as an “integrated value company,” turning volatility into opportunity.

A new era of value creation From a traditional sogo shosha to a global investor. Since its founding in Japan in 1954, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has steadily evolved into a diversified investment and trading company. A disciplined strategy has supported steady earnings growth and strong returns, driving a more than tenfold increase in market capitalisation over the past 25 years to around $127bn in early 2026. That evolution continues with the $5.2bn acquisition of Aethon, MC’s largest deal to date, strengthening its integrated energy and power value chain. By connecting businesses across industries and the full value chain, MC is positioning itself to capture new opportunities in a changing global economy. Article developed with the custom content team at @Economist Impact #EconomistImpact