Fujio Mitarai

A nephew of Canon's founder, Mitarai spent 23 years at Canon USA before returning to Japan to lead the parent company, serving as CEO in multiple stints totaling over two decades — an extraordinary tenure by any global corporate standard. Mitarai's most important strategic legacy is Canon's diversification beyond its traditional camera and printer businesses, both of which face structural secular decline. He orchestrated the $6.1 billion acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems (now Canon Medical) in 2016, making Canon a major player in CT scanners, MRI systems, and ultrasound equipment. He also invested heavily in semiconductor lithography, where Canon's nanoimprint technology offers an alternative to ASML's EUV systems for certain chip manufacturing applications, and in Axis Communications (network video surveillance), acquired for $2.8 billion. Under Mitarai, Canon has maintained its reputation for engineering excellence and conservative financial management — the company carries minimal debt and generates strong free cash flow. His decisions on the pace of business mix transformation, semiconductor lithography investment (competing with ASML and Nikon), medical equipment market expansion, and managing the decline of legacy printing revenue are the critical variables for Canon's stock. His management of Canon's transition from a consumer electronics brand to a B2B industrial technology company defines his era.