President Hints at Surprise Amakudari Move as Ousted Execs Face an Uncertain Future

Dalton’s proposal was rejected

The parent company of Fuji TV, Fuji Media Holdings (FMH), held a board meeting on May 16 and announced its proposal for executive appointments to be presented to shareholders at next month’s general meeting, adding four new directors including Takashi Sawada (67), former president of FamilyMart.

This comes amid the ongoing scandal at Fuji surrounding allegations of sexual misconduct by former talent Masahiro Nakai (52) against a former female Fuji TV announcer. In April, major shareholder Dalton Investments, a U.S. investment fund, had proposed its own slate of director candidates, including Yoshitaka Kitao (74), Chairman and CEO of financial giant SBI Holdings. However, none of Dalton’s 12 proposed names were included in Fuji’s official personnel plan.

That same day, Fuji TV President Kenji Shimizu (64) addressed the press at the network’s Odaiba headquarters, stating, “We believe the reform plan and board structure we’ve pursued are optimal. We have no intention of being antagonistic toward Dalton.” Yet, Dalton did not back down.

Dalton’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO) James Rosenwald made an emergency trip to Japan and met with Shimizu on May 21. On May 22, Dalton issued a statement via its official site, expressing regret that Fuji had rejected all of its proposals without discussion, and claiming it could not believe the decisions had been made in good faith.

Though it was initially expected that Dalton would wage a proxy fight — a battle to gather shareholder proxies ahead of the June general meeting — Rosenwald told TV Asahi and others, “This is like an election. You choose the best candidates. It’s your vote,” signaling his intention to avoid a direct contest.

“There’s still about a month until the shareholder meeting,” noted a national newspaper economics reporter. “While Rosenwald has already met with Kitao privately in Tokyo, it remains possible that new moves will be made. Furthermore, Aya Nomura (37), daughter of the notorious investor Yoshiaki Murakami, and her investment company Reno — both major Fuji shareholders — have maintained an eerie silence. It’s widely believed they too may present their own director proposals or take action before the meeting.”

Since a grueling 10.5-hour press conference held on January 27, President Shimizu has succeeded in purging Fuji’s executive ranks of long-time power broker Hisashi Hieda’s (87) loyalists, who had clung to board seats for nearly 40 years, achieving a significant shake-up of the company’s leadership.

President Shimizu hinted at a descent from heaven (amakudari)

The main figures among the directors who have stepped down so far include Takashi Sawada (73), former president of Fuji TV; Masahiro Nakai (66), former president of Kansai TV; Yoshitaka Kitao (68), former president of Fuji TV; and Hisashi Hieda (70), who will resign as president of FMH at the June shareholders’ meeting. While these individuals made significant contributions to Fuji in their respective fields, they were also the so-called culprits who inherited the outdated corporate culture of Fuji — one insensitive to harassment issues — and led the company into its current predicament. All of them are elderly figures, and one might hope they could move on to a peaceful second chapter in life, but it was revealed that President Kenji Shimizu intended to show unexpected leniency toward them.

According to the May 15 issue of Shukan Shincho (Shinchosha), during a remote company-wide briefing for all employees on May 1, President Shimizu addressed a pre-submitted question regarding the retired directors. He commented, “I feel sorry about what happened. I can’t just turn them loose into society. There’s a chance they’ll remain within our group companies.” In other words, he hinted at the possibility of so-called amakudari (descent from heaven, or cushy post-retirement positions).

“There are plenty of group companies under FMH — like the ‘Hakone Open-Air Museum’ and others — more than enough to assign the retired executives to appropriate posts,” said an insider. “However, if that happens, it won’t hold them accountable for the situation they caused. It may be President Shimizu’s personal sense of compassion to say ‘I’m sorry for what happened,’ but the media will criticize it, and the employees won’t accept it either. There’s already a growing voice within the company questioning whether this will truly help break away from the old corporate culture. After the May 16 board meeting and financial results briefing, President Shimizu held a press conference, but no reporters asked him about this issue. It’s what we most wanted to hear,” commented a Fuji employee.

Will the former directors actually receive those amakudari appointments as President Shimizu implied? When Friday Digital inquired with Fuji TV, the response was, “We do not comment on personnel matters.”

It seems President Shimizu may find himself troubled not only by negotiations with James Rosenwald and others over the new board appointments but also by how to handle the treatment of former directors.

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