The Osano Empire
The hotel's owners, Japanese businessmen and brothers Kenji Osano and Masakuni Osano purchased the Moana Hotel from the Sheraton Corporation in 1974 for US$10.7 million. The market price for the property was undervalued and the Osano brothers made millions of dollars in profit.
At the same time, they purchased the rest of Sheraton's holdings in Hawaii—the Sheraton Surfrider Hotel, the Sheraton Princess Kaʻiulani Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the newly opened Sheraton Waikīkī Hotel.
The Osano brothers formed Kyo-Ya Company Limited, a subsidiary of Kokusai Kogyo Company Limited, as the corporate entity charged with overseeing the hotel properties. The purchases put the Osano brothers on the Forbes 400 list of the World's wealthiest people in 1999.
After the death of the Osano brothers, Takamasa Osano inherited billions of dollars in properties. The Moana Hotel continues to be the flagship hotel in the Osano corporate empire and is the part-time residence of Eiko Osano, widow of Kenji Osano.
Read more about this topic: Moana Hotel
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