One built an online shopping empire from a small Tokyo office. The other designed some of the most admired cars of the past 25 years, then watched two car companies bearing his name end up in bankruptcy court.

Hiroshi Mikitani and Henrik Fisker come from different worlds, yet both made big, public bets on bold ideas. This guide covers their ages, backgrounds, careers, families, and net worth estimates, so you can see how the two compare.

Hiroshi Mikitani and Henrik Fisker at a Glance

Detail	Hiroshi Mikitani	Henrik Fisker
Role	Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Rakuten Group	Automotive designer and entrepreneur
Birthday	March 11, 1965	August 10, 1963
Age (October 2026)	61	63
Nationality	Japanese	Danish (based in Los Angeles)
Education	Hitotsubashi University, Harvard MBA	ArtCenter College of Design
Best known for	Rakuten, Japan’s e-commerce and fintech giant	BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9, Fisker Karma
Net worth	Estimated in the billions (varies by source)	No reliable current figure

Who Is Hiroshi Mikitani?

If you’ve ever shopped on a Japanese online marketplace, you’ve probably touched his work. Hiroshi Mikitani founded Rakuten, which grew from a small online mall into a company covering e-commerce, banking, credit cards, travel, and mobile service. He still leads it as chairman and CEO.

Early Life and Education

Mikitani grew up in a family where ideas about the economy came up at the dinner table. His father, Ryoichi Mikitani, was an economist, and Hiroshi’s early years included time abroad as well as in Japan. He earned his undergraduate degree at Hitotsubashi University, one of Japan’s top schools for business and commerce, and then joined the Industrial Bank of Japan.

Banking gave him a steady career, but it didn’t hold him for long. He went on to earn an MBA at Harvard Business School in 1993, an experience that exposed him to American startup culture and to the way technology was starting to reshape retail.

Hiroshi Mikitani’s Birthday and Age

Mikitani was born on March 11, 1965. That makes him 61 years old as of late October 2026. His birthday falls under the zodiac sign Pisces, though that’s a fun detail rather than a business one.

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How Did Mikitani Build Rakuten?

The story usually starts with the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Mikitani has said in interviews that the disaster made him rethink his life and push toward starting his own company. He left banking and launched his business in 1997, and the online marketplace Rakuten Ichiba opened that same year.

The Marketplace Model

Rakuten’s early idea was simple. Instead of selling goods itself, it rented space to small merchants and gave them tools to run their own storefronts. Shoppers got variety, sellers got an audience, and Rakuten earned fees. The word “Rakuten” itself means optimism in Japanese, which fits a founder who bet on the internet when many Japanese retailers were still skeptical.

The company went public in Tokyo in 2000. From there, Mikitani expanded fast through acquisitions and new businesses, including:

• Kobo, the e-reader and e-book company
• Viber, the messaging app, bought in 2014
• Ebates, the cash-back shopping site, now part of Rakuten Rewards
• Financial services such as banking, credit cards, and securities

Rakuten Mobile and Other Big Bets

His boldest move may be Rakuten Mobile, which launched as a full wireless carrier in Japan in 2020. Taking on the country’s established carriers was expensive and risky, and the unit has weighed on Rakuten’s finances for years. However, Mikitani has stayed committed to it.

He has also invested well beyond retail. Rakuten owns the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles baseball team and the soccer club Vissel Kobe. SEC filings also list Mikitani as a major shareholder in AST SpaceMobile, a company working on satellite-based mobile service. Rakuten has a business partnership with that company as well.

Who Is Henrik Fisker?

Henrik Fisker is the kind of designer whose sketches ended up on posters. He’s also a cautionary tale about how hard it is to build a car company from scratch. Both parts of that story matter if you want to understand why people search for him today.

Early Life and Education

Fisker was born on August 10, 1963, in Allerød, Denmark. He’s 63 years old as of October 2026. Like many car designers, he found his path early, and he trained at the ArtCenter College of Design, graduating in 1989. That school has produced a long list of well-known automotive designers.

From BMW to Aston Martin

His first big job came at BMW Technik, the carmaker’s advanced design studio in Munich, from 1989 to 1992. Later he became president and CEO of Designworks USA, a BMW subsidiary. During those years he became widely known for the BMW Z8, the silver roadster that James Bond drove in The World Is Not Enough.

In 2001, Ford hired him as design director at Aston Martin. He was linked to the Aston Martin DB9 and the V8 Vantage, two cars that helped define the brand’s modern look. It’s worth noting that the exact extent of his personal role on those models has been debated by other people who worked at the company. Still, his name has long been tied to them in the car world.

Henrik Fisker’s Own Car Companies

Success as a designer didn’t guarantee success as a founder. That’s the sharp turn in his career.

Fisker Automotive and the Karma

After leaving Aston Martin, Fisker started a coachbuilding business and then launched Fisker Automotive. Its first car was the Fisker Karma, a luxury plug-in hybrid sedan that looked stunning and arrived in 2011. Production problems and financial trouble followed, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2013. Its assets were later bought, and the business that rose from them became Karma Automotive.

Fisker Inc. and the Ocean SUV

Fisker didn’t walk away. In 2016, he co-founded Fisker Inc. with his wife, Geeta Gupta-Fisker. The company went public in October 2020 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, raising more than $1 billion. Its main product was the Fisker Ocean, an electric SUV built by Magna in Austria rather than in a Fisker-owned plant.

Deliveries began in 2023, but the rollout was rocky. Recalls, software problems, and customer lawsuits piled up. A hoped-for deal with a major automaker fell through, and in June 2024 the company’s operating unit, Fisker Group Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware. That made it the second car company named after Fisker to fail.

Since then, owners of the roughly 12,000 Ocean SUVs that were produced have formed groups to share repair knowledge and keep their cars running. That kind of loyalty says something about the vehicle’s design appeal, even if the business behind it couldn’t last.

Hiroshi Mikitani and Henrik Fisker: Family and Personal Life

Both men keep their private lives fairly quiet, so only well-documented details are worth including here.

Mikitani’s Family

Mikitani is known publicly as the son of economist Ryoichi Mikitani. Beyond that, he rarely shares details about his wife or children, and reliable information is limited. It’s better to stay with what’s confirmed than to guess.

Fisker’s Family

Fisker’s personal life is better documented. He was married to Patricia Fisker from 1989 to 2011. In 2012, he married Geeta Gupta-Fisker, who later became his business partner. She co-founded Fisker Inc. and served as its chief operating and financial officer. Reference sources list him as having two children.

Hiroshi Mikitani and Henrik Fisker Height

Fans often ask about height, but neither man has publicly confirmed an official number. Some websites list figures, though they rarely cite where they came from. One magazine profile described Fisker as tall and blond, which is a description rather than a measurement. Until either man shares a verified height, the honest answer is that it isn’t established.

Hiroshi Mikitani and Henrik Fisker Net Worth

Net worth is always an estimate. Nobody outside the family office sees every asset, debt, or private deal, and public figures move with stock prices.

Mikitani’s Net Worth

Mikitani is one of Japan’s wealthiest people, though published numbers vary quite a bit. Forbes-based rankings around early 2026 put his fortune at roughly $4.5 billion, and a few outlets reported figures near $4.3 billion in late 2025. Other trackers that count only certain stock holdings show lower numbers, around $2 billion to $2.6 billion in 2026. The gap comes from methodology.

Here’s where his wealth mainly comes from:

• His roughly 20 percent stake in Rakuten Group
• Investments in other public companies, including AST SpaceMobile
• Sports and entertainment assets tied to the Rakuten ecosystem

Rakuten’s share price matters a lot. Heavy spending on Rakuten Mobile has made it volatile, so his estimated fortune can rise and fall quickly.

Fisker’s Net Worth

Fisker’s finances are harder to pin down. Before 2024, he and his wife owned a large share of Fisker Inc., so their paper wealth was tied to a stock that later collapsed. Some websites still publish figures in the hundreds of millions, but those numbers look outdated after the bankruptcy. No trustworthy source currently confirms his net worth, so it’s wise to treat any specific number with caution.

How Do Mikitani and Fisker Compare?

Their paths show two very different styles of risk. Mikitani built a platform and kept layering businesses on top of it. Fisker followed the designer’s instinct: make the product beautiful first, and solve the manufacturing puzzle later.

Question	Mikitani	Fisker
Core skill	Business building and deal making	Automotive design
Biggest success	Rakuten Group	BMW Z8, Aston Martin designs
Biggest setback	Rakuten Mobile’s heavy costs	Two car company bankruptcies
Current status	Leads a major public company	Rebuilding reputation after Fisker Inc.

Both men share a willingness to take on giants. Mikitani challenged Japan’s biggest telecom players, and Fisker challenged the established auto industry. Neither route is easy, and the results show it.

FAQ’s

How old is Hiroshi Mikitani?

Hiroshi Mikitani was born on March 11, 1965, so he’s 61 as of October 2026.

How old is Henrik Fisker?

Henrik Fisker was born on August 10, 1963, in Allerød, Denmark. He’s 63 as of October 2026.

What does Hiroshi Mikitani do?

He’s the founder, chairman, and CEO of Rakuten Group, a Japanese company known for e-commerce, financial services, and mobile.

What is Hiroshi Mikitani’s net worth?

Estimates vary by source and date. Forbes-based figures from late 2025 and early 2026 range from about $4.3 billion to $4.5 billion, while some stock-tracking sites show lower totals. Treat any figure as an estimate.

What is Henrik Fisker known for?

He’s best known as the designer of the BMW Z8 and a key figure behind the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage. He also founded Fisker Automotive and Fisker Inc.

What happened to Fisker Inc.?

Fisker Group Inc., the company’s operating unit, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2024 after production troubles, recalls, and failed rescue talks.

Who is Henrik Fisker’s wife?

His wife is Geeta Gupta-Fisker, whom he married in 2012. She co-founded Fisker Inc. and served as its chief operating and financial officer.

What is the net worth of Henrik Fisker?

No reliable current figure exists. Older estimates were tied to Fisker Inc. stock before the 2024 bankruptcy, so many online numbers are likely outdated.

How tall are Hiroshi Mikitani and Henrik Fisker?

Neither has publicly confirmed an official height, so any number you see online should be treated as unverified.

Conclusion

Hiroshi Mikitani and Henrik Fisker prove that bold ideas can lead to very different outcomes. Mikitani, born in 1965, turned Rakuten into a global business and remains a billionaire, though his wealth estimates vary by source. Fisker, born in 1963, remains admired for his designs even after two company failures. If you’re researching either man, rely on verified facts, treat net worth as an estimate, and check recent news before drawing conclusions.