In Japan, succession issues are often framed as SME problems, but the numbers show that they are also very much a concern in listed companies, especially because they look quite different from global norms.
Looking at Japan as a whole, aging management is persistent. A 2024 Teikoku Databank study found that the average age of organization leaders in Japan was 60.5 years as of December 2023, the 33rd consecutive annual increase. Going back to 1990, the same statistic reported by Teikoku Databank stood at 54 years. In addition, only 3.8% of leadership positions changed hands in 2023.
Looking at the listed blue-chip universe, the picture gets sharper. The Japan Spencer Stuart Board Index 2024 analyzes at Nikkei 225 and TOPIX 100 companies. It finds that representative directors / CEOs have an average age of about 62 (62.0 for Nikkei 225, 62.1 for TOPIX 100). Chairmen are older still. Representative directors/chairmen have an average age around 68, with individual examples running up into the late 80s.
Outside of the largest caps, in the broader listed universe, a long incumbency effect also becomes visible. According to the latest Shikiho figures, roughly 25% of CEOs of all listed companies have been in their post for more than 10 years.
For comparison to global peers, Spencer Stuart report gives us a useful benchmark: S&P 500 CEOs have an average age of 58.7, and their average tenure as CEO is about 7.5 years. In other words, US large-cap CEOs are younger than their Japanese blue-chip counterparts. Russell Reynolds’ Global CEO Turnover Index also shows that the average tenure of outgoing CEOs at major listed companies worldwide was about 7.4 years in 2024 and has continued to edge down (to just over seven years by late 2025) as boards replace CEOs more quickly. That 7-year tenure band combined with CEO ages in the high 50s represents the current global norms in large listed markets.
Set against that, listed Japan looks distinctive in 3 aspects: Older CEOs and Chairmen, slower overall leadership turnover, and a significant number of CEOs with extremely long tenures.
For investors, that combination of older average age, slower turnover, and long tenure resulting in many decade-plus incumbents represents a unique factor affecting returns. In some cases, it means stability and deep firm-specific knowledge; in others, it means overly cautious capital allocation, delayed handovers, and strong attachment to legacy businesses and structures.
Because the global trend is moving the other way towards shorter CEO tenures and more frequent transitions, the gap between Japanese listed practice and global standards is becoming more visible. Over the next decade, the closing of that gap through planned succession, MBOs, sales, or governance-driven change is likely to be one of the quiet but powerful forces reshaping the Japanese equity universe.
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