Olympus shares dive 20% as investors fear delisting
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30 Comments
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-4
JapanGal
This is getting funny.
6
ironchef
No, it is not funny. It is quite sad for the thousands of workers who have to suffer potentially because of the effed up management.
-4
gogogo
Delisting? Japan doesn't delist Japanese companies
1
cracaphat
5
nigelboy
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/上場廃止となった企業一覧
Here you gogogogo
2
namabiru4me
I agree with one thing that the new pres said yesterday...the products they make are still good. Olympus has a 70% world-wide market share on optical medical equipment.
Get a new mgmt team in, and the stock will bounce back, somewhat. Put in Woodford, and let him have a real go! Seems like they need someone who does not manage the Japanese way.
2
NetNinja
Ironchef - I'm pretty sure JapanGal knows what it means for all the workers and how they are about to suffer, not to mention the shareholders.
What's funny is the "song and dance" How long does it take for these guys to finally put a cork in the BS and resign? Olympus continues to say "That Mr. Woodford was terminated over his management style" We all know that a crock of ££$% now.
He's a whistleblower and an honest man that was trying to do what was right for Olympus. He tried to protect all those people who work for the company. As President and CEO he was fulfilling his mandate. It doesn't get any better than that. He got too close to the truth and they fired him.
Good men can often be wrongfully terminated here in Japan. They come in on time, dressed properly, fulfill their duties. Then there are egotistical A-holes who think they can't be bossed around or their commands contested.
In a wrongful termination suit, Mr. Woodford must show that he is ready to go back to work. He has expressed that he would return. Although Olympus has claimed that Mr. Woodford has been let go, that is not the fact. If he did not sign any papers then he contests the termination.
Japanese companies are so low, that they'll put the words in your mouth. They'll go so far as to say, "He said he was looking for another job". One company went so low they called another company to contact one of their employees to make it appear as if he were looking for employment elsewhere.
Other dirty tactics include personnel shift. One minute you're talking to one person and the next week they send in someone who claims to have no knowledge of your complaint. It's how they set you up.
Japanese companies get away with such tactics cause labor laws are designed to support companies and not the plaintiff.
So yeah, I think it's funny too. If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Next time, stick up for whistleblower regardless of his nationality. He might just be trying to save your job too.
-1
Wurthington
"Thousands of workers" will not end up suffering since in a "worst case scenario" the company will be sold of in pieces. Olympus has a few divisions like endoscopes, cameras, analytical equipment, office communications and ionic printers. What may possibly happen is investors may sue the company to recoup large losses on stock holdings. Olympus may be forced to sell off these divisions piece by piece in order to pay off legal liabilities if indeed stockholders sue and win. Initially holders of Olympus' debt (corp bonds) will be first in line and next common stockholders. The vast majority of Olympus employees will end up working for another company in name only and probably continue to do what they're doing with little chage. Olympus' top management will, however, probably and rightfully be purged.
5
bicultural
How companies deal with scandals in Japan : 1) vehemently deny any wrongdoing 2) hold "I'm sorry" press conference where the leader bows deeply and is covered with camera flashes 3) leader resigns to "take responsibility" 4) new incompetent leader takes their place 5) repeat
-2
beowulf
To be honest "bicultural" if you take out the second step, I would say that most companies the wold over deal with their scandals this way. I suppose if I were to take it further, in the U.S. the finance geniuses who oversaw the GFC are now advising the president on finance.
1
Riffraff
Rehiring Woodford would be the smartest thing Olympus could do right now. It would show the world that the company was ready to change and it would be a great PR move to generate a bit of positive press. Positive press would go a long way to salvaging what is left of their stock prices and reputation. On the other hand, they have not been smart up to this point…
-3
tmarie
Well said Net. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Japanese companies. And they wonder why no one wants to invest in Japan... The BS here is amazing and yet, everyone looks the other way. Takes a foreigner to come in, blow the whistle and get fired for "not listening". Seems he did listen, perhaps a little much for these jerks liking. Sell the company off, keep the worker, get a new name and some foreign investment... All is fine.
0
ironchef
I'll bet you you're going to be wrong on that. They will chop off non-performing depts, get rid of anyone they want to in the name of "restructuring" and actually can be justified, and basically have a bare bones staff at any of these places. That is the name of the corporate world.
2
bonword
No matter what happens, I am positive that the regular workers of Olympus are suffering from stress of a uncertain future. It is not something anyone would want to have, especially in this rough economy.
-1
Cricky
Always the workers get it in the back of the neck, management not so much...with responsibility comes a suspended sentence and payout. As The PM said he was worried this would blacken Japan's name internationally...sorry job done.
2
Nessie
Not as funny if you have Olympus stock.
1
smithinjapan
ironchef: "It is quite sad for the thousands of workers who have to suffer potentially because of the effed up management."
Agree, but what's sadder still is that they STILL won't change. The president will resign and they'll bring in the next Amakudari who will promise change and do exactly the same thing.
namabiru4e: Wouldn't it be nice if they canned the whole lot at the top and brought in some REAL people to manage the company? Even better, wouldn't it be great to see the people (both staff and otherwise) rise up and demand the heads of Olympus be thrown out and then jailed? They won't, though. At best, as I said, a few will 'resign' to comfortable payroll positions in branch offices while collecting massive golden parachutes. The new group that comes in will be selected by those with vested interests in keeping things the way they are. They'll vow to change things and bow a few times, etc. etc. I hear a few 'Shouga nai, na's in the air.
-1
gaijinTechie
So very Japanese...
No. It is heavily clouded because of accounting fraud and fraud against investors, not because it was revealed.
0
2020hindsights
And Kanebo.
-3
gogogo
Read between the lines on my post. It is a stab at the Japanese company establishment.
-1
timtak
Who covers up loss making investments with other loss making investments? What would be the point? It might wash with regard to the massive payment for "advice", but it does not make sense to me regarding the other payments for nearly worthless startup companies. Who conceals losses with losses?
Perhaps I am missing something, but I think that if we were at the bottom of this Olympus would have rehired Woodford.
-2
Jared Norman
If wood ford goes back to japan he will be arrested, what about the criminals who actually ran the company
0
SwissToni
olympus is now ripe for a take over. Hopefully this wont mean too many job losses, but with the collapse of their share price they are surely fair game.
3
herefornow
beowolf -- nonsense. What happened to Olympus is unique to Japan due to its system of inter-holdings, large/inside boards of directors, and no governance/sense of fiduciary responsibility. Sure, corporate greed exists everywhere, but institutionalized cheating to cover-up the real numbers is part of Japanese corporate culture because they believe that is what made the country a great economic power. They are run like private companies, not publicly traded ones. Respectfully, if there was real corporate governance in Japan, and real auditotrs went in and threw open the books for public scrutiny, a huge percentage of Japanese stocks would face delisting. And the powers that be know it, which is why things will never change, and Japan will continue to fade away. A victim of its own group think and isolation. It has gone on too long.
1
Ah_so
Herefornow - great post and completely agree. Shareholders i.e. the owners, are of secondary interest to Japanese companies. The level of complicity among the board is disgraceful and its reputation is in ruins. I suspect that the only for the company to recover is to get Woodford back with a mandate to take a broom to the boardroom.
Now that the company has admitted to false accounting (presumably a criminal offence in Japan, as elsewhere), I am waiting for the authorities to raid Olympus HQ - so far nothing, which makes you wonder how deep this scandal goes.
0
tmarie
Still wondering where all the money in the Caymans went! Admit something, hope everyone forgets the other things??
0
ExportExpert
Lost nearly 50% of value in two days, wow through the floor again tomorrow i guess.
0
malfupete
do Japanese companies not get audited? Or are the accounting practices much much different??
0
gelendestrasse
Not necessarily. In any consolidation the redundant functions, such as sales and accounting, are sure to be cut, if not of Olympus people of the acquition company's people.
Other parts of the company might not be that desirable. I recall Xerox trying to sell it's Small Office / Home Office (read, competes with Canon and HP small desktop ink jet) division way back when. They couldn't get the price they wanted for it and so they sacked the entire division.
The corrupt senior managers of Olympus should be sacked and charged with fraud and a caretaker team assigned to get things moving again. But, like the US mortagage companies and banks, the probability of this is nil. The "good old boys" network takes care of it's own, at the worker's expense.
Corporate governanace is an oxymoron right up there with government efficiency....
0
nigelboy
Whoa that came out of nowhere. Does Enron, Worldcom ring a bell?? Aurther Anderson anyone??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals#cite_note-24
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