Japan, Bloomberg, 2017: "After years of being rejected for bank loans and frozen out of business deals, the onetime pariah is now being embraced as an internet pioneer, and even a role model. His ever-evolving media and technology empire, DMM.com, started with pornography but has grown into a vast collection of enterprises that have made him one of Japan’s richest people."

Japan, Bloomberg, 2017: "After years of being rejected for bank loans and frozen out of business deals, the onetime pariah is now being embraced as an internet pioneer, and even a role model. His ever-evolving media and technology empire, DMM.com, started with pornography but has grown into a vast collection of enterprises that have made him one of Japan’s richest people."