Hajime Satomi withdrew from Aoyama Gakuin University November 1975 and founded Sammy Corporation. Sammy experienced significant growth when it began Manufacturing machines for the pachislot and pachinko industry (one of Japan's most popular forms of gambling) and was successfully listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in March 2001. Sammy Corporation is now the leading manufacturer of pachislot and pachinko machines.
With 22% shares bought in 2003, Sammy then bought a controlling share 1.1 Billion dollars in Sega in 2004. Hajime Satomi heads the newly combined $4.5 billion (sales) group, now called Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. with its main businesses being those of Sammy Corporation and Sega Corporation.
At the Asia Business Leaders Award in 2005, The Sega Corporation named Satomi as the new chairman in a realignment of management, after the Sammy Corporation became Sega's biggest shareholder. Satomi, Sammy's President, succeeded Hisao Oguchi, who has now become vice chairman and chief creative officer of the new board. The announcement came two months after Sammy, bought 22.4 percent of Sega for 45.33 billion yen ($427 million), becoming the largest shareholder in the company.
