Takanashi Antimatter

Template:Infobox CompanyTakanashi Antimatter (formerly Standard Antimatter), trading as TkAnti, is a Human antimatter and exotic matter creation and distribution company based on the planet Hikari in the Takanashi Star Cluster. The company has several subsidiaries dealing with security as well as subsidiaries dealing in shipment. It was founded in 2121 CE by Itsuki Takanashi and a team of human scientists with the goal of replacing government creation of antimatter with a private approach. The company has developed hundreds of antimatter creation devices, storage devices, engines which utilize the substance, antimatter batteries, and several lines of personal craft that use antimatter as a fuel source.

As of the current year, the company has 1.2 trillion major distribution centers in eleven-hundred galaxies. It is the tenth largest company by revenue with 201 Octillion C-Units. The company is a publicly traded family-controlled company. 66% of the stocks are and forever will be owned by the Takanashi Family while the rest are owned by millions of other individuals. The company is the largest antimatter producer in the Confederacy of Borealis, and over 51% of its revenue comes from the Confederacy.

Currently, Takanashi Antimatter is working to gain a larger influence throughout various nearby nations, especially the Lewis Nations. The Family had a marital alliance of Megumi Takanashi and Ashalon II Tarnos made for this goal.

History

Origin

A team of scientists, based on Earth, developed a highly compact particle accelerator in 2111. This device created antimatter efficiently and at a much faster rate than any other production method at the time. Takanashi took out a loan and founded his start-up company in 2121 called Standard Antimatter. When the company first came to be, only large corporations or governments would buy antimatter, as it was still far more expensive than any other substance at the time.

The company lived off of government subsidies until 2151, when antimatter batteries for domestic use were first developed. These small batteries use an array of electromagnets to maintain the position of the antimatter, and to have it annihilate when it needed to annihilate. These batteries ended up being a popular alternative to normal batteries, mostly do to their long lifespan. For things that had no access to the power grid or solar power, they became vital. This gave the company the funds to finally go public in 2157.

Going Public

After going public, the company quickly expanded, creating dozens of production facilities in orbit around both the Earth and it's moon Luna. The company was not much of a family-owned company at this time, so only a handful of the descendants of Itsuki Taakanashi had stock in the company. After the death of Takanashi an associate of his named Hiroki Sakagami became the CEO in 2201.

The company expanded and spread with humanity. Selling to colonists, governments, private citizens, weapons manufacturers, and energy production companies. Several alien states also began to purchase antimatter from the company. When the company first started selling to alien nations in 3309, they bought up most of the competition, eventually causing aliens to be admitted to the board of directors.

Elitism

For several decades, the company was actually the number one largest on in the Milky Way. As time went on, the wealthy elite the company formed grew to disdain the "commoners." This is the earliest origins of nobility within the CoB. Board positions started to become hereditary, although the most competent child of the board member was voted into the position rather than just the oldest. This disdain was passed down through the generations, with fewer and fewer outsiders getting to own large numbers of stock. Only 22% of the stock was available for trade at the peak of this "noble" period.

In 5076 the position of CEO was also made hereditary, or, when the CEO had no children competent enough to become the next CEO, by appointment. The first CEO was a direct descendant of Itsuki named Amatsuyu Takanashi.

Expansion to International Prevalence

Prior to 6041, the company was mostly concentrated in the Milky Way, with little to few dealings with nations outside of the galaxy, but later in that same year, they started selling to various nations in the Large Magellanic Cloud such as the Virozic Republic. Later that decade, the company expanded into many other of the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.

As the company expanded, however, various governments grew worried about their elitism and virtual monopoly on the market. Many alien governments put sanctions on the company, preventing them from being able to sell there. Other governments required that the branches of Standard Antimatter in their nations were to become independent companies.

This forced the company to diversify to still have access to the market. This is when they started producing, engines, storage devices, and other objects related to antimatter. These services were not monopolies, and were therefore allowed into the other nations.

In 7899, the company took an interest in the production of exotic matter, because of its uses in artificial gravity and wormhole construction. They intentionally made sure not to create monopolies as those would paradoxically cause them to profit less. Several puppet companies rose and fell over the years, but they proved not to be as profitable as just simply existing as a single company.

In 9874, Riki Takanashi refused to become the next CEO of the company. The various aliens on the board, acting out of prejudice against humans, decided to attempt seizing the company away from human control. They attempted to kill the human board members to seize power for themselves. Senku Takanashi I and Yukari Sakagami fled the Milky Way to escape.

The company war renamed to Procyon Antimatter until 9901. The two now ruined exiles had no way to take back the company, or regain their influence. They had to do something that no wealthy noble would ever think of doing, reporting every illegal activity the company has done in exchange for immunity. On June 14th, 9902, the CoB Department of Justice raided the headquarters of the company, arresting most of the higher ups of the company. In exchange for the information, both Senku I and Yukari Sakagami were given a quarter of the seized assets, while the rest were sold by the Department to raise funds. The price of these stocks, however, were virtually nothing since most people saw owning these stocks as too risky. After several years of selling them, the Department of Justice only sold 33% of the total stock, simply giving the rest of the stock back to Senku I and Yukari Sakagami at a discounted rate.

After this, the company would sell to any side in a conflict and would pledge a strict stance of neutrality. Any attempt to prevent the neutrality was met with strict antimatter sanctions on the offending entity. Takanashi Antimatter has a virtual monopoly on antimatter production, so if they were to stop selling antimatter to an entity, it would quickly run out and would have nowhere else to go for their antimatter needs.

In 12983, Takanashi Antimatter purchased the planet Jophtio and the system it was in. This planet became the main storage facility for Takanashi Antimatter's then legal Strange Matter. In 15003, an accident resulted in the entire planet being consumed by Strange Matter. This accident resulted in an international ban on the production of Strange matter, however this did little to stop Takanashi Antimatter's production. The company began selling it in secret to many individuals and even governments, with their largest customer being The Administrator.

Operating Divisions

Takanashi Distribution Center

Takanashi Distribution Centers (often branded as Taka-Fuel Depots) are large shipyards capable of housing ships anywhere from several meters to several kilometres in length. While offering basic repair services, their major function is to resupply antimatter for these ships. Usually as fuel for smaller ships, but as weapons for military or para-military craft. These Centers usually sell food as well and have a limited number of lodges.

They mostly exist orbiting near important planets, but many exist in Oort clouds or other more remote locations to service ships entering and exiting systems.

These centers are usually around a kilometer long and several hundred meters wide. Larger ships can't dock inside of it, so they usually dock perpendicular to the Center. Several other companies have partnered with Takanashi Antimatter to sell their own products in the centers.

As of this year, there were 1.3 trillion of these centers total. 575 Billion of which lie in the CoB, while the rest are spread out over many nations such as the CUEN, NTIH, and several of the Lewis Nations.

Takanashi Contractors

Takanashi Contractors is the name of the division responsible for selling antimatter to governments. This division usually has little to do with the general populace, as buying antimatter is strictly illegal for civilians. Governments mostly use it for weapons, but it is also commonly used for compact power generators in government craft.

The division is one of the more profitable divisions of the corporation, making up over 56% of their total revenue. Para-military organizations are allowed to have limited quantities of antimatter, so they make up a large portion of the customers of this division.

Takanashi Personal Craft

Takanashi Personal Craft is one of the smallest divisions. This division sells antimatter-powered personal craft branded simply as "Antis." These vehicles are usually less than three meters long and used by wealthy individuals that don't care to use more public transportation. They are capable of interstellar travel, although interplanetary travel is far more common.

Anti-Battery

This is the second largest and second most profitable division. These batteries, explained above as well, are commonly sold to power devices such as implants or androids that need to go long periods of time without recharging. In the event of a catastrophic failure, something very rare, the amount of energy released is often not enough to harm the device or person it is in, as the case of the battery is designed to absorb most of the blast.

These batteries have proven to be about as dangerous as any other battery, but with a higher cost as well as a higher chance of failure. Regardless, they have a longer lifespan per unit on average as well as more power output per gram of weight.

Security Division

The most recent of the divisions is the Security Division. Originally, the company used separate para-military groups to guard facilities and transporters. This went on for millennia, until the end of The War of the Decamillennial Transition. Quadrillions of ships ended up building up in shipyards. Rather than recycle these ships, many bankrupt governments decided to sell them off in large quantities. The company took this opportunity to purchase large numbers of ships. These ships defend the antimatter freighters from pirates and occasionally their competitors.

As time went on, they found that buying ships was cheaper than employing middlemen overall, so they began updating ships. Today they usually buy surplus supplies and ships from governments to stock their own fleets. They even have several private shipyards of their own located in the Takanashi Cluster. Occasionally, they have leased some of the larger ships to other groups. They do not have as many ships as many of the larger para-military groups, but they are still able to offer a competitive price.

The fleet currently is made up of this number of ships.

• 3.2 Trillion Starfighters
• 1 Billion Corvettes
• 500 Million Frigates
• 100 Thousand Destroyers
• 107 Cruisers
• 10 Battleships
• 40 Trillion Freighters
• 302 Billion Super Freighters
• 3 Titan Freighters

Former Divisions

Takanashi Antimatter has tried creating many divisions in it's lifetime. Many divisions have ended up falling out of use, or only ever seeing limited use in certain areas.

In 7834, the company attempted to expand into all forms of energy production rather than just antimatter. They created a division called "Standard Energy" and eventually planned to have Standard Energy fully absorb Standard Antimatter. The government of the CoB quickly shut down the company over fears of the company gaining a full monopoly over the energy market, rather than just a sector of it. The company's lobbyists were totally unable to block the action, and it was made so thoroughly illegal that life sentences would be given to every board member if they tried again.

Another division was made which constructed military weapons rather than just simply supplying the antimatter. In 12045, the company created Takanashi Arms, in an attempt to enter the defense market. The plan ultimately failed, not because the weapons were low quality or inferior, but because redoing the contracts wasn't worth the effort in the eyes of most governments. The division was absorbed into Takanashi Contractors in 12061.

Operations

Revenue

Takanashi Antimatter is one of the largest companies in the Local Universe, and has consistently been in the top 15 largest companies since the year 3076. Currently, the company has a revenue of 201 Octillion C-Units.

While having a virtual monopoly (95%) in the Local Group, the company only makes up 52% of all antimatter production in the Laniakea Supercluster. They are still the largest by far, however. With no other company even controlling a single percentage of the industry.

The company does everything in it's power to buy out smaller companies. In 199946, they had begun a hostile takeover of twenty smaller companies. At this point in time, the progress is ongoing, and the company is receiving stiff resistance from them.

Corporate Affairs

The Boards

The company is ran by a bicameral board. A lower board of three-thousand individuals, and an upper board of eleven. The lower board is elected by the share holders (most of which are part of the Takanashi Family), while the upper board is elected entirely by some of the most powerful members of the Family. The chairman of the lower board are chosen by the head of the Family.

The Lower Board

The Lower board handles most of the lower level decisions of the company. Aliens are somewhat prevalent in this board as well. They usually have the following duties:

• Setting rules for the upper and middle management.
• Accounting to the Stakeholders for the organization's performance.
• Hearing and passing product ideas and initiatives to the Upper Board.
• Setting the salaries of senior management.
• Governing the organization in a near term sense.
• Appointing individuals to head things such as marketing, public relations, and advertisement.
• Drafting annual Budgets to send to the Upper House.

Other titles such as "Administrator" and "Head of Expansion" are given to board members via a vote among themselves. Individuals with these titles often head committees created to deal with specific situations.

The Upper Board

The Upper Board is comprised of eleven individuals. They are all direct descendants of Itsuki Takanashi as well as some of the most qualified individuals to run the company. They have not been on the same planet as each other since The Noble Crisis, when the Takanashi Family shattered into several pieces. Many are not even present in the same galaxy as each other at any given time. Even at coronation or marriage ceremonies they will appear on screens or piloting an Android.

These individuals are all appointed by the Head of the Family or other high level members in the family. These individuals are some of the most powerful humans in the Local Universe, only beaten out by board members of larger corporations and certain few politicians.

The responsibilities of these board members are as follows:

• Governing the organization in the long term.
• Maintaining good relations with other noble families.
• Establishing long term plans.
• Ordering the movement of the Security forces.
• Expansion into new galaxies.
• Approving Product Ideas, Initiatives, and the Budgets.
• Appointing their own Chair.

The Current Chair of the Upper Board is Rikka Takanashi IX. She was appointed in 199981, and she her term will end next year, where she will either be reappointed or demoted back to a regular Upper Board member.

Chief Executive

The Chief Executive is appointed by the Head of the Takanashi Family, but can be rejected by the Upper Board. They advise the two boards, handle day to day operations, human resources, strategies, and other senior management duties.

The current CEO is Masuyo Takanashi. She has been CEO since 199961.

Regulations

Much like most multi-octillion corporations, governments have to tie them down with hundreds of regulations, mandates, and laws to prevent them from gaining too much power. Most of these laws are anti-monopoly laws as well as anti-bribery laws. In Takanashi Antimatter's case, there are also hundreds of antimatter related regulations that need to be followed.

Anti-monopoly Laws

While Takanashi has a full monopoly over antimatter in many places in the CoB, it does not have a monopoly on weapons or energy. As such, anti-monopoly laws can't apply. The Takanashi Family knows that their services, while vital during times of war, are not so vital as to be used as a bargaining chip during times of peace. This forces them to keep their prices down to compete with Fusion power in the energy sector and Rail Guns and Particle Weapons in the weapons sector.

Antimatter Laws

There are many regulations for the handling and distribution of antimatter. Most citizens are not allowed to own it in it's pure form outside of batteries.

Criticisms and Controversies

Takanashi Antimatter has been subjected to criticism by all manor of groups and individuals. Some types of groups include liberal groups that disdain it's power, labor unions, other noble houses (something to be expected), and even some of their regular customers and employees. All of these groups dislike their business practices, the buying out of other companies, the use of government subsidies, security policies, use of force in protecting their supplies, the outsourcing of labor to slaves in the Lewis Nations and NTIH, stance regarding The Exhumation, and the manipulation of several politicians via lobbying.

The company has announced plans to move certain facilities out of nations like the NTIH in response to recent backlash against their slavery practices. However, no plans to appease labor unions or relinquish family control of the company have been announced. Interviews with the current CEO had her elude to entirely cutting off relations with several nations involved in the Exhumation, but this is not confirmed.

Scandals

While the politics and relations in the world of the Nobility are usually kept hidden from the public eye, several of the larger scandals proved too large to be effectively covered up, and they ended up leaking.