is a Japanese multinational corporation. It produces Yakult, a probiotic beverage using lactic acid bacteria discovered by Minoru Shirota in the 1920s. The company markets other products, owns the Tokyo Yakult Swallows baseball team, and promotes “Shirota-ism,” a philosophy of affordable pricing and the belief that a healthy intestine prolongs life, as reported by the Financial Times. Yakult operates in India through a 50:50 joint venture with Danone. History Yakult Honsha was founded in 1955. Since 1963, Yakult has employed women, known as or , to deliver products to homes via bicycles or motorcycles. That initiative, enhancing female workforce participation, accounts for 60% of bottled Yakult sales. Their numbers in Japan declined from 65,700 in 1973 to 42,500 in 2009. In the early 1980s, Carlos Kasuga, a Mexican of Japanese descent, established Yakult Mexico. In 1998, Yakult Honsha incurred $813 million in derivatives market losses, drawing international attention. In 2000, The Japan Times reported that the company paid a criminal syndicate annually to prevent disruptions at shareholder meetings, masking payments as advertising costs. In 2010, Yakult established a U.S. subsidiary and built a factory in Fountain Valley, California, which began production in 2014. Danone, once holding 21% of Yakult Honsha shares, reduced its stake to 7% in 2018 but remains the largest shareholder.
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