The company became famous with the recruit scandal.
Recruit sold a lot of shares of Cosmos, a subsidary, to politicians before being listed in the stock exchange. The company sold it below the IPO price. So many politicians earned a lot of money in 1986 when the company was listed.
The scandal broke in 1989. Miyazawa Kiichi, then Minister of finance and Takeshita Noboru, then Prime Minister, had to resign.
See also: Economy of Japan, JapanRecruit scandal