Benesse
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese company which focusses on correspondence education and publishing. Based in Okayama-City, it is the parent company of Berlitz Language Schools
Berlitz Language Schools
Berlitz Corporation is a global leadership training and education company with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey and Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian D. Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island...

, which in turn is the parent company of ELS Language Centers
ELS Language Centers
ELS Language Centers is a private entity that provides English language training in the United States. It operates through various language centers, often based on a college campus. Originally set up as an organization for creating and publishing ESL materials, ELS opened its first center in 1961...

. Benesse is listed on the Tokyo
Tokyo Stock Exchange
The , called or TSE for short, is located in Tokyo, Japan and is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies...

 and Osaka Stock Exchange
Osaka Securities Exchange
is the second largest securities exchange in Japan, in terms of amount of business handled. As of 31 December 2007, the Osaka Securities Exchange had 477 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $212 billion. The Nikkei 225 Futures, introduced at the Osaka Securities Exchange in...

s (listing code 9783).

Origin of the company name

The company name is derived from the Latin words "bene" (well) and "esse" (being).

Company history

The company was founded in 1955 as . In 1994, it completed the construction of the Fukutake Shoten Tokyo Building (now Benesse Corporation Tokyo Building) in Tama
Tama, Tokyo
is a municipality classified as a city, located in Tokyo, Japan.Its southern half forms part of the Tama New Town project, Japan's largest residential development, constructed in the 1970s....

-City, Tokyo. In April 1995, the company was renamed Benesse Corporation.

A major breakthrough in the company's history was the acquisition of a majority stake in Berlitz Language Schools
Berlitz Language Schools
Berlitz Corporation is a global leadership training and education company with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey and Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian D. Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island...

, which had gone public in 1989. In 2001, Benesse completed the take-over by acquiring 100% ownership of Berlitz and making it a private company once again.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK