Yonex

Yonex Co., Ltd.
Type	Public
Industry	Sporting goods
Founded	1946 (Incorporation June, 1958)
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Ben Yoneyama, Chairman; Kusaki Hayashida, President
Products	Rackets, tennis balls, shuttlecocks, clubs, shoes, apparel, accessories
Operating income	£12 million / ¥1,644 million (March 2010)
Net income	£7 million / ¥977 million (March 2010)
Number of employees	1,200 approx.
Subsidiaries	'Yonex Corporation', 'Yonex UK Ltd.', 'Yonex GmbH', 'Yonex Taiwan Co., Ltd.', 'Yonex Canada Ltd.', 'Yonex Golf China Co., LTD'
Website	www.yonex.com

Yonex Co., Ltd. (ヨネックス株式会社, Yonekkusu Kabushiki-gaisha^?) (TYO: 7906) is a Japanese manufacturer of sporting equipment for badminton, golf, and tennis, producing rackets, clubs, shoes, shuttlecocks, tennis balls, and other equipment for those sports.^[1]

History

The company was founded in 1946 by Minoru Yoneyama as a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets. The company was later forced out of this market because of the invention of plastic floats. This led to a commitment by Yoneyama to never again be left behind by technological advancements.

In 1957, Yoneyama began to make badminton racquets for other brands. By 1961, the first Yoneyama-branded racquet was introduced, and within another two years an export company was created for the worldwide distribution. After the company began to make aluminum badminton racquets in 1969, it found that the same technology could be applied to the tennis racket which the company introduced in 1971. The company began to experiment with graphite shafts for both types of rackets and found that these would also be useful for golf clubs.

Finding a growing market, the Yonex Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary) was established in Torrance, California in July 1983. In 1992 Yonex introduced the widebody badminton racket, the "Isometric 500", a racquet that was much less "tear drop"-shaped than previous ones. The more "square" head gave it a much larger striking surface, which provides a larger "sweet spot" to hit the shuttle. It led other manufacturers to follow suit in "square-head" or isometric designs.

The Yonex Nanoray 10, an entry level badminton racket.

The parent company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1994. Yonex describes itself as the world leader in golf, tennis and badminton equipment.^[2] Yonex provides clothing for national badminton associations around the world, such as the Malaysian Badminton Association, Badminton Scotland, Badminton England, Badminton Ireland, and Badminton Wales. Yonex has also been teaming up with OCBC (Orange County Badminton Club) since 2007 to host the annual U.S. Open Grand Prix Badminton Championships.^[3]

Yonex French Open in 2013

Yonex has managed to become the dominant corporate player in badminton. Yonex sponsors the All England Open Badminton Championships and is a partner of the Badminton World Federation which organizes the World Championships.^[4] Upwards of 80% of competitive players use their racquets, as it is the preferred choice amongst professionals.^[5] Yonex is significant in both the tennis and golf industry and is a major sponsor of professional athletes in all three sports.^[6]