Saturday May 26, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Shareholder sues Olympus board for firing Woodford

Crime Jan. 18, 2012 - 05:30PM JST ( 22 )

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

Order by Time Order by Popularity

22 Comments

0

GWJan. 18, 2012 - 03:46PM JST

oooh, this cud be interesting!
3

marcelitoJan. 18, 2012 - 03:51PM JST

Whoever he is - good on this guy for taking a stand against the rotten board. Good luck to him. This should keep Olympus in the news a little longer.
0

ElvensilvanJan. 18, 2012 - 04:13PM JST

I guess Woodford's speech to the stockholders did have an effect after all.
-12

AmericanForeignerJan. 18, 2012 - 05:24PM JST

And where was this idiot when everything started? Comfortably at home watching so-called "talents" on his television. Too little too late.
0

tokyokawasakiJan. 18, 2012 - 06:17PM JST

Sounds like: David v Goliath... I wish him all the best. The old dinosaurs who control most of Japan and the corrupt systems need to be challenged.
-1

tmarieJan. 18, 2012 - 06:24PM JST

Good for this guy. I hope the others follow his/her lead. Olympus should pay for this - and come clean!!
1

horizon360Jan. 18, 2012 - 06:53PM JST

For this individual shareholder to file a lawsuit against the Board of Directors he first needed to find a good lawyer (bengooshi) to represent him. That probably took a lot of time and effort and money. So far all of the institutional shareholders of Olympus (like banks and investment companies) have refused to take any legal action at all. Now this one small individual shareholder ("The Lone Ranger" ) with his lawyer ("Tonto") are fighting to save the day for all the shareholders. AmericanForeigner bashing the Lone Ranger and calling him an idiot was very uncool.
3

GDemmonsJan. 18, 2012 - 07:38PM JST

AmericanF...obviously you have never been a shareholder and you know nothing of finance. Olympus fooled lots of people and relied upon the Japanese style of saying nothing. There was not much that the average shareholder could have done to know what was happening in this country. Japan's antiquated, anti-transparency attitude towards everything is the cause of this problem and will be at the root of the motor collapse that this country is about to undergo once the government and Japan Post decider they will not repay taxpayers for their investment in Japan's national debt. Kudos to this guy for having the balls that 99.9% of Japanese lack.
1

Kyle HendricksJan. 18, 2012 - 07:54PM JST

I love my 'Pen'. It takes fantastic pictures, but I hope more people will be persuaded to join this shareholder and Yuri-san to put up a fight and really expose these board members!!
-1

gogogoJan. 18, 2012 - 08:19PM JST

woohoo
2

Samantha Zoe AsoJan. 18, 2012 - 08:49PM JST

Absolutely fabulous! Hopefully, this 'Lone Ranger' will be the first of many. Maybe that time has come where some people are sick of just sucking it up. I wish him every success.
0

GWJan. 18, 2012 - 09:05PM JST

kick A$$!
1

Christina O'NeillJan. 18, 2012 - 09:23PM JST

I wish the sharehoder every success, going after the directors who were responsible for the coverup and Mr Woodfords sacking. If the plaintiff wins, the ruling may well serve as a deterent in the future in preventing unfair dismissal and dishonest practices
0

globalwatcherJan. 18, 2012 - 09:40PM JST

Shareholders made my day!!

Absolutely Mr. Woodford was wrongfully discharged.
-2

herefornowJan. 18, 2012 - 10:15PM JST

Shareholder activism is rare in Japan, where institutions tend to have cozy relationships with board members and cross-shareholdings are common.

Too true. And until this changes, Japan will suffer as it tries to compete for foreign capital/investment. Because no one can really know if the numbers coming from the companies are real or not. Good for this guy. Let's hope it is just the first of many actions to open up Japan. Too bad it is not the authorities leading this charge, however.
0

hatsoffJan. 18, 2012 - 11:24PM JST

@herefornow - spot on. Here we have a company that has decided to put in charge an executive who is actually being sued by the self same company for his part in the wrongdoing....and not a peep from the shareholders!
-3

herefornowJan. 19, 2012 - 12:31AM JST

Here we have a company that has decided to put in charge an executive who is actually being sued by the self same company for his part in the wrongdoing....and not a peep from the shareholders!

hatsoff -- great point. This whole scenario sounds like fiction, but, we must always remember that we are talking about Japan Inc. here, where ineptitude/mediocrity in mangement and often downright fraud is not seen as a problem.
-2

888naffJan. 19, 2012 - 06:50AM JST

"where ineptitude/mediocrity in mangement and often downright fraud is not seen as a problem."

are you talking about what started the current world financial crisis from a couple of western countries with dodgy companies, regulations, ratings agencies and governments?
1

bkawamuraJan. 19, 2012 - 07:25AM JST

finally some action ...
1

ObviousDemonJan. 19, 2012 - 03:42PM JST

888naff.....the Western (Wall St.) situation was formed from 'the smartest people they could find' doing the shiftiest things they could think of.

In Japan Inc, it's still reasonably shifty, but the very low bar on ethics means that the smartest people available aren't really required.....
0

ObviousDemonJan. 19, 2012 - 03:44PM JST

Go ShareHolder Ranger!!!!!

He's saying "You Board Members get paid (YOUR money) to look after MY money"

When you fired Woodford, it was clear that it would be unjustified and Olympus would get suited for MY money........so NOW......you can REPLACE MY money, with YOUR money, that you were paid for a job that you DID NOT DO!

Excellent!!!
0

Al StewartJan. 19, 2012 - 04:32PM JST

booooo, so late. They are just jumping on the woodford band wagon. They dont know what to do, they are just watching what happens and doing what ever the "other guy" does.

If they were really upset, they should have done something as soon as they heard about woodford's termination.