Yosoji Kobayashi, the late former chairman of Nippon Television Network Corp. and former president of the Yomiuri Shimbun, left a taxable estate worth 8.85 billion yen to his family, tax authorities said Monday.
Kobayashi, a substantial NTV shareholder who died last December at age 86, bequeathed to his family an inheritance of deposits and NTV shares, according to sources familiar with the case.
Based on tax authorities' share assessment, the inheritance tax on the estate is estimated at 2.5 billion yen, the sources said.
Kobayashi, a University of Tokyo graduate from Toyama Prefecture, worked for the former Interior Ministry before joining the Yomiuri Shimbun, of which his father-in-law, the late Matsutaro Shoriki, was president, in 1965.
Kobayashi served as president of the Yomiuri between 1981 and 1991. He became NTV president in 1970 and served as chairman from 1981 to the end of his life.