Warner Music Japan CEO Found Dead

Warner Music Japan CEO and president Takashi Yoshida was found dead in his Tokyo home Oct. 7. Police are treating it as a suicide.

Yoshida’s wife returned home from shopping in the afternoon and found him hanging, according to Japanese media. There was no suicide note.

Apparently, Yoshida recently sought treatment for depression at a hospital.

Yoshida had been the president of WMJ since 2004. He is credited with developing several of the label’s biggest domestic artists, including Kokuburo, Ayaka, and Superfly, as well as working closely with many of the labels more established artists, like Mariya Takeuchi and Tatsuro Yamashita.

Before working at Warner, Yoshida was the president of DefSTAR Records, a division of Sony, where he developed the careers or Chemisty and Ken Hirai.