Canon vs Volkswagen: Founders, CEOs and History

Canon

Founded

1937

Headquarters

Ota, Tokyo, Japan

Current CEO

Fujio Mitarai

Employees

165,547

Volkswagen

Founded

1937

Headquarters

Wolfsburg, Germany

Current CEO

Oliver Blume

Employees

663,000

Canon

• Takeshi Mitarai

  Takeshi Mitarai supported the camera laboratory that Goro Yoshida, Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda opened in 1933, and became president of its successor, Precision Optical Industry, Co., Ltd., in 1942.

• Goro Yoshida

  Yoshida took apart a Leica Model II and, as he later recalled, was angered to find it was built from brass, aluminium, iron and rubber yet sold for 420 yen.

• Saburo Uchida

  Saburo Uchida (1899-1982) co-founded the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory with Goro Yoshida, his brother-in-law, and Takeo Maeda in November 1933.

• Takeo Maeda

  Takeo Maeda (1909-1977) was the youngest of the founding group. A former subordinate of Saburo Uchida, he joined Uchida and Goro Yoshida in opening the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Roppongi in November 1933 and worked on the Kwanon prototype and…

Volkswagen

• Ferdinand Porsche

  Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) was an Austrian-born automotive engineer who had worked for Lohner, Austro-Daimler and Daimler-Benz before opening his own design office in Stuttgart in 1931.

Canon

1. Takeshi Mitarai1942–1974

   President

   An obstetrician who backed the 1933 camera laboratory, he became president of Precision Optical Industry in 1942 and led the company as it became Canon Camera Co. in 1947, listed in Tokyo in 1949 and opened sales offices in New York and Geneva in the 1950s.

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2. Ryuzaburo Kaku1977–1989

   President, later Chairman

   As President, he aggressively challenged Xerox's monopoly in the copier market by introducing affordable, personal laser printers and copiers.

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3. Fujio Mitarai1995–present

   Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

   Born in 1935 and a nephew of Takeshi Mitarai, he joined Canon in 1961, ran Canon U.S.A. as president from 1979 to 1989 and became president of Canon Inc. in 1995.

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4. Tsuneji Uchida2006–2012

   President and Chief Operating Officer

   During his tenure as President, he maintained strong profitability through strict cost-cutting measures despite the brutal collapse of the digital compact camera market.

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5. Masaya Maeda2016–2020

   President and Chief Operating Officer

   He led the Image Communication Products group during the height of the DSLR era, cementing Canon's position as the global market leader in interchangeable lens cameras.

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6. Kazuto Ogawa2026–present

   President and Chief Operating Officer

   Joined Canon in 1981 and led Canon Singapore (2005), Canon Canada (2008) and Canon U.S.A. as President and COO (2018).

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Volkswagen

1. Hermann Münch1946–1947

   Chief Executive Officer

   Early executive involved in the incredibly complex immediate post-war administration of the completely destroyed factory under British military control.

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2. Heinrich Nordhoff1948–1968

   Chief Executive Officer

   The absolute legendary post-war architect who took the ruins of the VW factory and transformed the Beetle into a massive, globally beloved cultural icon and economic miracle.

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3. Kurt Lotz1968–1971

   Chief Executive Officer

   Early post-war leader who began the critical process of diversifying VW's lineup beyond relying entirely on a single model (the Beetle).

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4. Rudolf Leiding1971–1975

   Chief Executive Officer

   Crucial CEO who managed the extremely difficult, highly risky transition away from the iconic but severely outdated Beetle toward modern, front-wheel-drive water-cooled cars (like the Golf).

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5. Toni Schmücker1975–1982

   Chief Executive Officer

   Guided the company through the severe financial crises of the 1970s, ensuring the successful launch and massive adoption of the original VW Golf.

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6. Carl Hahn1982–1993

   Chief Executive Officer

   As CEO in the 1980s, he executed the massive, highly strategic acquisitions of SEAT and Skoda, laying the foundation for VW's absolute dominance in Europe.

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7. Ferdinand Piëch1993–2002

   Chief Executive Officer

   As the legendary, absolutely ruthless patriarch (and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche), he transformed VW from a struggling mass-market brand into the most powerful automotive conglomerate on Earth.

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8. Bernd Pischetsrieder2002–2006

   Chief Executive Officer

   Serving as CEO from 2002 to 2006, he oversaw the incredibly complex integration of massive luxury brands like Bugatti and Bentley into the VW Group portfolio.

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9. Martin Winterkorn2007–2015

   Chief Executive Officer

   As the notoriously demanding, absolutely feared CEO, he oversaw massive global expansion but fostered a culture of absolute terror that led engineers to cheat rather than admit failure.

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10. Matthias Müller2015–2018

    Chief Executive Officer

    As CEO during the darkest period in modern VW history, he initiated the massive cultural purge of the toxic, highly secretive engineering culture that caused the cheating scandal.

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11. Herbert Diess2018–2022

    Chief Executive Officer

    Serving as CEO, he forcefully dragged the massive, highly bureaucratic legacy automaker into the Tesla era, though his abrasive style alienated the powerful Porsche-Piëch families.

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12. Oliver Blume2022–present

    Chairman of the Board of Management

    He also ran Porsche AG alongside the group role until Michael Leiters took over as Porsche CEO on January 1, 2026, leaving Blume focused on Volkswagen Group.

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Canon

• Canon Electronics (minority shares)2026Undisclosed
• Redlen Technologies2021$335M
• BriefCam2018Undisclosed
• Kite2017Undisclosed
• Toshiba Medical Systems2016$5.9B
• Axis Communications2015$2.8B

Volkswagen

• Porsche AG2012Undisclosed
• Bentley Motors1998Undisclosed
• Auto Union / Audi1965Undisclosed