CockPit Holdings Acquires 100% of Shares in Leaps Co., Ltd.

CockPit Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Junki Namazue; hereinafter 'CockPit') announces that it has acquired 100% of the shares of Leaps Co., Ltd. (hereinafter 'Leaps'), which operates in the career transition support, recruitment consulting, and sales HR domains, formally welcoming the company into its group.

This acquisition is part of our strategy to implement 'referral-based recruitment,' which does not rely on advertising, on a nationwide scale. As the second phase of our area strategy, following CRUISE Co., Ltd. in Osaka, welcoming the Nagoya-based Leaps into the group will strengthen the collaboration of our inter-regional referral network. By doing so, we aim to improve the quality and reproducibility of introductions while driving the industry standardization of this model.

**Significance and Purpose of this Acquisition**

**1. Strategic Significance**
Leaps is an HR venture company originating from Nagoya that expands into the sales HR domain in addition to paid employment placement (License Number: 23-Yu-30270).

This initiative serves as the second phase of our area strategy following CRUISE in Osaka, aimed at expanding the foundation of our referral network in the Tokai region. By incorporating the introduction track record cultivated through community-based operations and advancing knowledge sharing and standardization within our group, we will enhance the reproducibility and sustainability of the referral-based recruitment model.

Through this, we will build a support system across a wider area where both job seekers and companies can make decisions with a sense of conviction.

**2. Expected Synergies with Our Company**
By combining the philosophy and mechanisms of introduction-based career transition support that our company has promoted with the operational capabilities and sales HR domain expertise Leaps has cultivated in the Nagoya market, we aim to strengthen the following areas:

(For Job Seekers) Sophisticating continuous support from articulating careers to decision-making
To realize not just 'selectable offers' but a 'fully conclusive career change,' we will design an end-to-end process from supporting the articulation of careers to post-joining performance and retention.

(For Companies) Strengthening continuous support from upstream recruitment design
We will correct job requirements that deviate from on-the-ground realities and provide support right from the requirements definition stage, thereby reducing the probability of post-joining gaps.

(For the Market) Backing the structural shift from ad-dependent models
While referral hiring and referral-based recruitment are gaining traction, they remain areas with significant room for growth. Through collaboration with HR companies rooted in regional cities, we will implement essential career and recruitment support tailored to regional characteristics, accelerating the shift away from a market structure entirely dependent on advertising.

**Value to be Provided Post-Integration**

**Defining 'Recruitment Success' not by the joining date, but by retention.**

Our company does not let career transition support end at 'securing a job offer.'
Because changing jobs has become commonplace, we believe society as a whole needs a mechanism to reduce the 'do-over costs' associated with early turnover.

Through this group integration, we will redesign the process from the career transition decision to retention and active performance as a single continuous process, gradually strengthening the following initiatives:

1. Systematization of a career design process that yields a 'fully conclusive career change'
2. Construction of a requirements definition model predicated on 'recruitment success = retention and active performance'
3. Implementation of follow-up designs to minimize post-joining gaps
4. Construction of a continuous support system from the strategic design of referral hiring to execution support