Zaibatsu

財閥 ／ zaibatsu　—　People & places

A pre-war Japanese corporate group in which a single family controlled numerous companies through a holding company.

Their origins varied. Mitsui began in textiles and money exchange, Sumitomo in copper refining, and Konoike in sake and money exchange. The structure of a family controlling companies through shares was dismantled in November 1945 with the dissolution of the headquarters of the four main Zaibatsu. ⚠ The term is not used for European banking families like the Medici, Fugger, or Rothschilds. It specifically refers to the Japanese model of control via a holding company.