Shift’s founder Masaru Tange.
Shift
Masaru Tange, president and CEO of Tokyo-based Shift, has joined the ranks of world’s billionaires after shares of his software testing company surged 88% over the past year.
The company’s market value has risen to $3.4 billion as of Friday. Tange, 46, whose stake in Shift is just over a third, has an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion.
Shift has adopted a strategy of acquiring smaller firms to increase its headcount of engineers, and then it cuts out layers of subcontractors who acted as middlemen for those firms. By doing this, the company can boost both its sales and profits. Since it was founded in 2005, Shift has acquired at least 23 enterprises, ranging from game software and smartphone app developers to used computer sellers.
Shift said it has 3,719 permanent engineers as of May, up 41.5% from the end of 2020. The software testing service provider serves 433 clients from industries like gaming and…