Hisao Nagata

Source of wealth: Retail

69 years male Fashion & Retail 🇯🇵 JP

Net Worth

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Earnings per second

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The scale of their wealth

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Health

The price of life

Let's compare Hisao Nagata's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country

Hisao Nagata could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 0.6 years.

But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country

On the other end, Hisao Nagata could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.3 years.

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Education

Buying the future

Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country

Hisao Nagata could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 0.4 years.

And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country

But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and Hisao Nagata could pay for it entirely for 0.6 years.

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Research

The monopoly on progress

Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country

Hisao Nagata could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 2.4 years.

And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide

But even if we compare the total wealth of Hisao Nagata with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.1 years.

While billions of people struggle to access basic healthcare, education, and research, a single individual could fund entire national systems for centuries.

Gold

Everyday luxuries

Hisao Nagata's fortune is equivalent to 10 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.

A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.

Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.

Hisao Nagata could buy 2,584,703 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!

And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 0 trucks to transport them. Although Hisao Nagata will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.

Biography

Hisao Nagata is the founder and chairman of Trial Holdings, a discount supermarket chain with interests in retail IT and developing AI systems. His son Hiroyuki is a director.

Nagata's father, Oumi, opened a thrift store called Asahiya in 1974 in Fukuoka, which Hisao took over in 1981. Three years later, he changed the name to Trial Company and also started a software developer focusing on retail.

Trial has developed technology to decrease labor costs and increase efficiency, including self-checkout shopping carts and AI-powered cameras to gather shopper behavior data and monitor inventory.

Trial has over 600 stores in Japan and posted $5.2 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended in June 2025.

In March 2024, Trial was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Growth bourse.