19 Facts About Takafumi Horie

Takafumi Horie is a Japanese entrepreneur who founded Livedoor, a website design operation that grew into a popular internet portal.

On March 16,2007, Horie was sentenced to imprisonment of 2 years and 6 months.

Takafumi Horie is popularly known as Horiemon due to his resemblance to Doraemon, the chubby robot cat in a popular Japanese cartoon.

Takafumi Horie was born in Yame, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, and was raised in a respected household by a corporate father and mother from a farming landlord family.

Takafumi Horie was a student at the department of literature at the University of Tokyo and was going to major in religion, but dropped out after establishing a company called Livin' on the Edge in 1995 with friends and classmates, which became the precursor to Livedoor.

In 2004, Takafumi Horie tried to buy the Kintetsu Buffaloes baseball team.

Takafumi Horie unveiled a plan for space tourism at the 56th International Astronautical Congress in Fukuoka in 2005.

Takafumi Horie said that he planned to invest in space development and that he wanted to launch a crewed rocket within five years.

Takafumi Horie announced on August 19,2005, that he would run in the snap 2005 general election as an independent in the Hiroshima sixth district.

Takafumi Horie contemplated running as an official LDP candidate against LDP rebel Shizuka Kamei, but chose instead to run as an independent, while keeping the support of the LDP leadership.

Takafumi Horie lost the election and returned to Tokyo to continue his business career.

However, Takafumi Horie has disclaimed any connection to the party and is not running as a candidate.

Takafumi Horie said he would not participate in the company's management again.

Prosecutors sought a four-year prison sentence for Takafumi Horie, who pleaded not guilty.

Takafumi Horie appealed the punishment, but the Supreme Court of Japan on April 26,2011 upheld the sentence.

Takafumi Horie maintained a digital newsletter from his prison cell and communicated with the outside world through staffers who posted to Twitter on his behalf.

Takafumi Horie lost more than 60 pounds while in prison, which he attributed to the bland food served there.

Takafumi Horie was released on parole in March 2013 after 21 months behind bars.

Takafumi Horie now promotes his own portfolio of businesses through his company, SNS.