Fuji Media Shareholders OK Management's Board Nominees

Tokyo, June 25 (Jiji Press)--Fuji Media Holdings Inc. shareholders approved all 11 director candidates proposed by its management at a general shareholders meeting on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, all 12 board candidates put forward by Dalton Investments, a U.S. activist investor holding a 7.5 pct stake in Fuji Media, were rejected.

The Japanese media group is poised to push ahead with reforms under its new leadership after a sexual assault scandal involving former television star Masahiro Nakai exposed governance issues within the group.

Fuji Media's 11-member board includes new President Kenji Shimizu, the only reappointed director, and Takashi Sawada, former president of convenience store chain FamilyMart Co. All 11 were endorsed with more than 80 pct of votes.

"We will make efforts across our group so that we can be reborn," Shimizu said after the shareholders meeting, showing his determination to prevent a recurrence of any similar scandal.

Dalton lost a proxy battle for its candidates, including SBI Holdings Inc. Chairman and President Yoshitaka Kitao.

Dalton Chief Investment Officer James Rosenwald said that the result was expected and that the U.S. fund will remain a Fuji Media shareholder.

Fourteen board members stepped down following the shareholders meeting, including Hisashi Hieda, who had served on the board for over four decades.

At the start of the meeting, attended by more than 3,000 shareholders, outgoing Fuji Media President Osamu Kanemitsu apologized for the group's much-criticized handling of the sexual assault scandal. Shimizu expressed his determination to prevent any recurrence, saying he would reform the corporate culture and governance.

Shareholders expressed their frustration with the company in a subsequent question-and-answer session. The meeting, which began at 10 a.m., lasted around four and a half hours.

In the scandal, subsidiary Fuji Television Network Inc. failed to report Nakai's alleged sexual assault in June 2023 to its compliance department, highlighting its lack of awareness over human rights.

Many sponsors pulled their commercials from the broadcaster after the group held a press conference on the matter in January this year. Most have not resumed advertising.

Commenting on Hieda's retirement allowance, Shimizu said, "I don't see any reasonable grounds to stop the payment."
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