Kao Corporation Information & Kao Corporation Links at HealthHaven.com

Kao Corporation
花王株式会社
Type	Public (TYO: 4452)
Founded	June 1887
Headquarters	Chūō, Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Motoki Ozaki, President and CEO
Industry	Personal care, Fabric and home care, Feminine hygiene, Chemicals, Professional-use cleaning products
Revenue	▲$605.6 million USD (2006)
Employees	5,652 (direct); 29,908 (consolidated)
Website	Main Corporate, US Site

Head office

Kao Corporation (花王株式会社, Kaō Kabushiki-gaisha^?) is a chemical and cosmetics company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Kao began as a domestic toiletry soap in 1890 by Tomiro Nagase. Until 1940, they were known as Nihon Yuki Company, changing their name then to Kao Soap Company, and finally in 1985 to Kao Corporation. Kao entered the North American and European markets in 1986-1989, purchasing the Andrew Jergens Company. A research project on face powders resulted in the discovery of a dispersing system that was ideal for the management of magnetic particles spread over floppy discs, and Kao in 1985 established a U.S. subsidiary called Kao Infosystems Company to manufacture such discs. Their U.S. brands operations are based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the Canadian subsidiary is based in Mississauga, Ontario.

Their products in North America include Enova oil, Jergens lotions, Bioré skin care/beauty products, John Frieda haircare products, and Ban deodorant. In East and Southeast Asia where they market soaps, shampoos (Feather brand), Sanitary and baby napkins, fabric softeners, detergents (Attack brand) as well, many of their products carry the Kao name, or its equivalent in Chinese speaking nations, 花王. (Mandarin: Huāwáng)

In 2005, Kao acquired Molton Brown Ltd, a British beauty brand that produces luxury skincare, hair care and bath & body care products in the UK. The company was lead by CEO Charles James Denton.^[1]

In 2006, It acquired Kanebo COSMETICS INC., a major Japanese cosmetics company. It had been cosmetics business of Kanebo Ltd. until 2004.

In September 2009 Kao recalled it Econa cooking oil products after it was revealed in the media that one of its ingredients becomes carcinogenic after digestion. According to the media reports, Econa contained from 10 to 182 times the amount of glycidol fatty acid esters found in regular cooking oils. Kao also removed the tokuho, or government "healthy food" designation from the product's label. Problems with the product had first been revealed in 2002, but the company did not take action until 2009, for unexplained reasons.^[2]