Mitsubishi Corporation

Mitsubishi Corporation (三菱商事株式会社, Mitsubishi Shōji Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese general trading company (sogo shosha) and a core member of the Mitsubishi Group. For much of the post-war period, Mitsubishi Corporation has been the largest of the five great sogo shosha (Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Sumitomo, Marubeni) by revenue as well as profits.

The company was originally spun off from Mitsubishi & Co., Ltd, the holding company of the Mitsubishi Group at the time, in 1918 by Koyata Iwasaki. It was later split into three smaller trading companies by order of the Allied Occupation Forces, as major zaibatsu, including Mitsubishi, were deemed the backbone of Japan's pre-war economy. These companies re-merged in 1954, once again assuming the name Mitsubishi Corporation.

Mitsubishi’s operations began shifting away from the mere importing and exporting of goods in the 1960s. Starting with an investment in a liquefied natural gas field in Brunei in 1968, Mitsubishi rapidly moved towards investing directly in projects and companies overseas, rather than simply trading products.

Today, Mitsubishi holds interests in numerous large energy, mining, chemical, and infrastructure projects abroad, which generate the bulk of the company's revenue. It also operates consumer-facing businesses, such as a 50% share in the convenience store chain Lawson, along with other ventures in finance, healthcare, food, and apparel, both in Japan and overseas. In recent years, Mitsubishi has also been active in investing in technology start-ups and clean energy projects.

Mitsubishi Corporation is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where it is part of the blue-chip TOPIX Core 30 and the Nikkei 225 indices. It is also known as one of the highest-paying publicly listed employers in Japan. In terms of global recognition, Mitsubishi Corporation was ranked 65th in the Fortune Global 500, and 78th in the Forbes Global 2000 in 2024.