Chapter 1226 Appetizer

Woodford was previously the European director of Olympus. He has only been in the position of CEO for less than a year, which is bound to have a great impact on the company's stock price.

It can be seen that the conflict between him and the board of directors has become so acute that it cannot be reconciled.

However, Fang Zhuo loves to watch this.

Contradictions need to be exposed, and things need to be resolved. He firmly encourages and supports Woodford's counterattack.

On September 17, Woodford, who originally wanted to return to the UK, accepted the invitation of the Wall Street Journal and decided to come to New York to announce everything he knew to the media around the world.

Just when Woodford boarded the plane from Tokyo to New York, Fang Zhuo took a private plane back to New York, intending to feel the atmosphere of the outbreak of the incident up close.

However, the uprising of Olympus was slightly earlier than expected, which made Kong Yu quite anxious. His investigation work was not yet completed. Are there other Japanese counterfeiting companies that have slipped through the net?

Can he really make a move with the few companies in his hands?

Fang Zhuo felt this emotion and responded: "It's just a matter of how much they make. Whether it's Toshiba or Sony, or Nikon or Panasonic, their own situation is already very bad."

How bad is it...

I originally thought that Sony, led by Stringer, had a loss of 7 billion US dollars, which was unsurpassed. Now the news that confirms it indirectly is that Panasonic's loss this year may be higher than this.

Sony is understandable, with Stringer leading and me making suggestions on the side, but Panasonic... you Panasonic...

I can only say that this is a microcosm of the current business situation of Japanese companies.

It is precisely because of their declining competitiveness that they have to falsify finances and products on a larger scale.

Fang Zhuo called Stringer in the afternoon when he arrived in New York and asked Sony whether it had found an effective way to reverse the situation.

"Hahaha, Mr. Fang, what are you kidding..." Stringer sounded completely open-minded after having no other options.

Fang Zhuo expressed his relief and talked about the work of the charity foundation established in New York.

Stringer's enthusiasm for this may be even stronger than Sony's affairs. Sony is currently out of control, and the group's financial situation cannot be handled this year. The local lineage is rising again.

Even though he had previously carried out Western-style reforms on the board of directors, no matter how much he changed, the huge middle and senior management still had to look at performance, not to mention that the shareholders' meeting was the final check and balance.

Stringer is now considering whether he can get a more moderate evaluation after resigning at the end of the year or next year. Based on this situation, he is already selecting the next CEO for Sony, hoping that the CEO can help him speak.

He talked about this issue on the phone and thought that Kazuo Hirai might be pushed up.

Although Kazuo Hirai is Japanese, he worked in the United States before and is on Stringer's side. I believe he can also be lenient.

"Old Sir, are you going to make the same mistake again and again?" Fang Zhuo's tone became stern.

Stringer had previously considered lifting Kazuo Hirai to the position of president of Sony Computer Entertainment SCE, and at that time there were two alternatives, Yoshihisa Ishida and Kuni Suzuki.

Fang Zhuo gave his opinion at that time. Sony SCE is very important. Just after expelling Ken Kutaragi, people like Kazuo Hirai who have no engineering experience and no technical genes should be eliminated first.

In the end, Stringer chose Yoshihisa Ishida.

How important is the leader of a company? Just look at Stringer. Kazuo Hirai is the real leader of Sony's revival. Since he missed it last time, he should not appear at the forefront this time.

Fang Zhuo played the role of an external director and criticized: "Old Sir, I'm not saying anything, the reason why Sony is in this situation now is because you are not sensitive to the field of technology. Even you are like this, will the next Sony vortex be mixed by Kazuo Hirai who lacks technical background?"

"No matter how I put the blame on Nobuyuki Idei before you in front of the media, you are to blame for its current situation. Since you are leaving, do your best to get Sony back on track."

"Forcing Kazuo Hirai will only lead Sony into a more chaotic situation."

"Do you really want to watch Sony go bankrupt in the end?"

Fang Zhuo was not talking nonsense. Kazuo Hirai did not get the position of SCE president last time. His current qualifications and status are obviously flawed in the selection of CEOs. Sony has made a mistake in Stringer once. Do they have to push Kazuo Hirai who has no technical background to the position again?

Is this reasonable?

Is this right?

Stinger was silent for a long time. Oh, forget it. Although Mr. Fang is selfish, what he said makes sense. In the end, he will always leave a legacy for Sony.

"By the way, I heard that Panasonic's loss this year could reach 80 to 90 billion US dollars... Hahaha, it's really unexpected." Fang Zhuo mentioned another famous Japanese company near the end of the call, thinking that he could always comfort the old knight.

Stringer also laughed, wiped his eyes while laughing, put down his phone, and fell into the long thinking that often appeared recently, how could he fall to this point.

When the sun set, when the office was wrapped in darkness, he was confused and could not get an answer, but felt that being the head of Sony was a torment.

The next day, when Stringer finished another half-asleep and half-awake sleep, he arrived at the company and noticed the latest news from another Japanese company.

As the head of a Japanese giant, he always heard more or less about the recent situation of Olympus, especially that his compatriot Woodford was fired by the board of directors...

It's a compatriot, a CEO, a Japanese company, and financial problems. It's... it's a tragedy.

On September 22, British Woodford held a press conference in New York, denouncing Olympus for serious financial fraud and criticizing the inaction of relevant Japanese departments.

This press conference was attended by big media such as the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, who were very interested in the fraud of industry giants.

Previously, although Woodford had hinted at the company's situation through the media, it was to force the board of directors and senior management to make concessions. This time, when he was dismissed without any suspense, he became outspoken.

"I hired an external third-party auditing company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to investigate three acquisitions by Olympus from 2006 to 2008. We found that they set up three funds in Singapore, London and Tokyo to acquire worthless shell companies overseas, and then incurred huge losses, and then offset the past losses and false accounts to cover up the losses."

"In fact, Olympus has been speculating heavily in real estate and stocks since the late 1980s and has incurred losses, but they are not willing to do so. While covering up, they continue to speculate. Many false accounts and payments are made through overseas branches."

"Olympus Olympus has concealed at least hundreds of billions of yen in investment losses for nearly 20 years! "

Woodford listened to the sound of reporters taking photos and looked at the uproar in the audience, and said again: "I have reported to the relevant Japanese departments 6 times in total, but I have not received any support, and even very few responses!"

"Olympus is not just a Japanese company. 70% of its sales are in the European and American markets. It is an influential overseas company and it has an obligation to be responsible to all investors at home and abroad!"

Woodford then presented some evidence and the audit report of PricewaterhouseCoopers, successfully gaining more uproar.

He was excited, angry, and had a sense of revenge. He said in a deep voice: "The inaction of the Olympus board of directors, senior leaders and relevant Japanese departments has not only hurt investors, but also brought shame to the Japanese business community!"

A burst of flashes at the press conference recorded the former CEO of Olympus's exposure of the company's financial fraud and the accusation against the relevant Japanese departments.

In addition, Woodford also talked about the humiliation he had suffered from the board of directors, colleagues, and even the Japanese media and the public in the past few months.

In this regard, when the online reports quickly fermented, the head of Yike, who was closely following the development of the incident, stood up in anger and said that Woodford must not be allowed to be a lone hero!

Resolutely respond to Woodford's call and make the Japanese business community suffer shame!