[3] Fukuda previously served as vice president of Sony Pictures in the United States and also as president and CEO of Sony Digital Entertainment,[10] and had been involved in corporate management and the talent agency business since founding Speedy Inc. in 2017.

[11] Fukuda was chosen as a candidate for CEO because Smile-Up was interested in promoting "agent contract," a free work style, for its celebrities in the future.

[12] Fukuda, said to be well versed in the field of celebrities agent contracts, is known for having re-launched the career of actress Rena Nonen,[13] who had been in a slump after quitting her agency.

[15] On its official website, the company says, “We will accompany the current stars and those who will emerge in the future, following their individual personalities and goals.

[19] At a press conference on December 9, 2023, CEO Fukuda announced that the company had found a way to obtain a loan from a financial institution for several hundred million yen in working capital for the time being.

[7] Starto also said that it had established internal and external reporting channels for early detection of problems.

[32] Fukuda said he was impressed by Higashiyama's big decision to retire from show business and focus on compensation work for victims at Johnny's, after initially saying he wanted to continue acting until he was 90.

[36] In accepting the presidency, Fukuda said that he understood management but knew nothing about training celebrities, and asked Inohara to teach him that part of the business.

[38] In response to the 2024 Noto earthquake that occurred on January 1, the charity song “We are” was released by Starto artists of 14 groups, 75 people in total.

[39] The song was released for digital download on April 10 and on CD on July 24, with all proceeds donated to support earthquake relief efforts.

[43][44] Jun Matsumoto, member of Arashi, announced his departure from Starto for solo pursuits starting May 30th.

[49] On February 12, Starto announced that KAT-TUN would disband at the end of March, stating that since the company signed a contract with KAT-TUN in April 2024, it had been discussing with the members whether or not they would continue their activities and decided not to sign a second-year contract starting April 1.

After a year-long audition process, five new members were selected from the general public: Shuto Inomata, Taiki Shinozuka, and Masaki Hashimoto, in addition to Takuto Teranishi and Yoshitaka Hara, who had previously worked as actors in Starto.

[56] In September, Starto, in cooperation with Young Communication (YC), the site that hosts many of the concerts and stage performances in which Starto's contract artists appear, announced that it had filed a request for disclosure of information regarding the operator of a ticket-reselling website.

On September 5, WaveDash, the operating company of the "Ticket Distribution Center", the site where the scalpers were detected, announced that it would refuse to disclose the information, so Starto and Young filed a request with the Tokyo District Court for disclosure of information based on the Provider Liability Limitation Act.

[57][58][59][60] In 2019 "Prohibition of Unauthorized Resale of Tickets Act" was passed and crackdown of high-priced resellers was strengthened.

From June to September 2019, the woman had illegally resold electronic tickets to three people for an Arashi concert, ranging from 40,000 t0 133,000 yen.

The agency posted: "We are taking legal measures such as consulting with the police, requesting disclosure of sender information, and requesting deletion of articles and posts, but we will continue to respond resolutely to protect the safety and rights of our contract talents and related parties.

In order to protect the reputation of talents, we will continue to take strict measures, including legal action, against false articles and defamatory posts on social media, etc., together with our team of lawyers.

"[64] On February 4, 2025, on the Timelesz Project's SNS, a post calling attention to slander: "We will take strict measures, including legal action".

This was after confirmed content and information that can be taken as slander was found on SNS, in particular, following the results of the fifth round of screening.

Those who belong to Starto but have not yet debuted or started acting are trainees and are commonly referred to as “junior".

General Incorporated Association "Mindful" will take over the charity activities, as well as other social contribution activities, like mental health care (which includes the support for sexual assault victims), enrollment support for higher education students in the Nursing field, and others.