Seven & I Holdings Co. founder and honorary chairman Masatoshi Ito, proper, attends the corporate’s initiation ceremony for brand new workers in Tokyo, Japan, on March 13, 2014.

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Bloomberg/Bloomberg through Getty Images

Seven & I Holdings Co. founder and honorary chairman Masatoshi Ito, proper, attends the corporate’s initiation ceremony for brand new workers in Tokyo, Japan, on March 13, 2014.

Bloomberg/Bloomberg through Getty Images

Masatoshi Ito, the billionaire Japanese businessman who made 7-Eleven comfort shops a cultural and client staple of the island nation, died final week. He was 98.

According to an announcement from Ito’s company, Seven & i Holdings, the honorary chairman died of previous age.

“We would like to express our deepest gratitude for your kindness during his lifetime,” the agency’s assertion learn.

Previously known as Ito-Yokado, the corporate opened the first location of the American retail chain in Japan in 1974. Over the next many years, 7-Eleven’s recognition exploded within the nation.

In 1991, Ito-Yokado acquired a majority stake in Southland Corporation, the Dallas-based firm that owned 7-Eleven, successfully taking management of the chain.

Ito resigned one yr later over alleged funds by firm officers to “yakuza” members, the BBC reported. However, he stayed linked to the corporate he based as its progress of the 7-Eleven enterprise noticed large success.

By 2003, there have been greater than 10,000 7-Eleven shops throughout Japan. That quantity doubled by 2018.

Japanese comfort shops often called konbini are ubiquitous throughout the country, however 7-Elevens there could look totally different than what American customers are used to.

The glistening stores offer, amongst different issues, ready-to-eat sushi, rice balls known as onigiri and a big selection of sweets and baked items. Popular TikTookay movies show users shopping at 7-Elevens in Japan — and sometimes immediate feedback from envious clients elsewhere on the earth.

At the time of his loss of life, Ito had a internet price of $4.35 billion, according to Forbes, which made him Japan’s eighth-richest individual.