David M. Rosen (born January 22, 1930) is an American businessman and the co-founder of the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

company

Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

. He retired from the company as

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

in 1996.

Career

Rosen Enterprises, Ltd.

Rosen served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

from 1948 to 1952. He was primarily in

and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

, and remained there after his service. In 1954 Rosen started Rosen Enterprises, Inc., which focused on selling art created in Japan to the American market, and photo studios for Japanese identification cards. The photo business was called Photorama and Rosen established studios in hundreds of locations all over Japan. In 1957, Rosen Enterprises, Ltd. shifted its focus and pioneered the importation and operation of

coin-op A currency detector or currency validator is a device that determines whether notes or coins are genuine or counterfeit. These devices are used in a wide range of automated machines, such as retail kiosks, supermarket self checkout machines, a ...

amusement machines popular in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, to Japan to meet the growing leisure market. Rosen leveraged his existing business relationships and locations of his Photorama photo studios to roll out the amusement machines.

Sega Enterprises, Ltd.

In 1965, Rosen Enterprises, Ltd. Merged with Nihon Goraku Bussan, Ltd. (aka Service Games). Nihon Goraku Bussan, Ltd. used the

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

(the name originates from SErvice GAmes Japan) for their

jukeboxes A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to sele ...

and

slot machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

which were located on United States Military bases for amusement purposes. After the merger of the two companies, Sega Enterprises Ltd. was established and Rosen became

, Chief Executive Officer and President of the resulting company. Rosen co-founded the Japan Amusement Association in 1967 and was elected as Chairman.

Periscope

In 1966, under Rosen's direction, Sega Enterprises Ltd., created its first original game, called Periscope, which led to the introduction of 25¢ play in the United States and began Sega's export business.

Gulf+Western Industries, Inc.

After meeting with

Charles Bluhdorn Charles George Bluhdorn (born Karl Georg Blühdorn; September 20, 1926 – February 19, 1983) was an Austrian-born American industrialist. Early life Bluhdorn was born in Vienna, Austria, to an Austrian Jewish mother Rosa Fuchs and father Paul ...

in 1969, Rosen and partners agreed to sell Sega Enterprises Ltd. to the conglomerate

Gulf+Western Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. Originally, the company focused on manufacturing and resource extraction. Beginning in 1966, and continuing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the company ...

Industries, Inc., although Rosen remained

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Sega division. In the early 1970s Sega was made a subsidiary of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Corporation, which was also owned by Gulf+Western. During this period

Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall o ...

and

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film s ...

, both at Paramount joined Rosen on the Board of Sega and Rosen joined the Board at Paramount. In 1978 Sega Enterprises Ltd. acquired a distribution company, Essco Tdg., that was founded by

Hayao Nakayama is a Japanese businessman and was the former President and CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd from 1983 to 1999. Early life and career Nakayama was born into a family of doctors, and was expected to pursue medicine as a career. However, Nakayama de ...

. After the passing of Charles Bluhdorn, Gulf+Western wanted to sell off manufacturing assets, including Sega. Consequently, Sega's United States assets were sold to Bally Manufacturing Corporation.

Sega, Ltd.

Having already moved his family to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and not wanting to return to Japan full-time, Rosen declined the opportunity of solely purchasing the Japanese assets of Sega. In March 1984, Rosen and Hayao Nakayama put together a buyout group led by

Isao Okawa (May 19, 1926 – March 16, 2001) was a Japanese businessman and the former Chairman of Sega. History Okawa was born in Osaka, Japan. As a young adult, he studied at Waseda University in Tokyo. After graduating from Waseda, he formed Com ...

and purchased Sega's Japanese assets. Okawa became Chairman and Nakayama became President of Sega Ltd. This allowed Rosen to remain in the states while Nakayama was charged with the day-to-day operations of Sega's headquarters in Japan. Rosen agreed to set up

Sega of America is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its divis ...

and oversee the US & overseas operations, and he became Chairman of Sega of America which was headquartered in Los Angeles. Rosen remained a Director of Sega (Japan) until 1996 and at that time he resigned from both Sega (Japan) and Sega of America. Rosen is currently retired and living in Los Angeles.

Personal life

Rosen was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, the son of Fay (née Sachs) and Samuel Rosen. He married Masako Fujisaki in 1954, and adopted a daughter, Lisa. Rosen is Jewish.

References

External links

"8 Interesting Facts About Gaming's Greatest Companies"
- Sega Was Founded By Americans
"The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Sega"
by Eddy Wu

Dec 1993 * ttp://segaretro.org/Periscope SegaRetro Periscope Game {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosen, David Living people 1930 births United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War American businesspeople Jewish American military personnel Sega people Video game businesspeople 21st-century American Jews