Kyocera's Inamori accepts CEO post to turn around debt-ridden JAL+

TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo - Kazuo Inamori, honorary chairman and founder of electronics firm Kyocera Corp., said Wednesday he will head Japan Airlines Corp. as chief executive officer and help engineer the carrier's revival under a government-led rehabilitation
process.

The state-backed body charged with JAL's turnaround is also finalizing plans to
delist the company's shares by seeking a 100 percent equity reduction as its
share price dropped to a single digit the same day on a glut of sell orders,
sources familiar with the matter said.
In a move that may help to allay jittery customers, the Enterprise Turnaround
Initiative Corp. of Japan unveiled part of its rehabilitation scheme for JAL
and promised to safeguard user mileage points and special discount coupons
already issued to shareholders.
Inamori, 77, met with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama after he held talks in
Tokyo with ETIC officials and formally accepted the government request and the
mammoth task of aiding the reconstruction of the nation's biggest carrier,
which is mired in debt.
''I'm a complete amateur in the transport industry,'' said Inamori, who also
founded a telecommunications carrier that later merged with KDDI Corp. ''But I
would like to do my best in offering my cooperation.''
''If we steadily implement the rehabilitation plan that is being compiled by
ETIC, I believe (JAL's) revival is possible,'' he said.
Hatoyama told reporters that Inamori ''would be the best qualified person to
lead JAL,'' adding, ''I regard his management skills very highly as well as his
caliber in nurturing companies that employees are fond of.''
JAL's current president and CEO, Haruka Nishimatsu, and other board members are
expected to resign after the state-backed body compiles the carrier's
rehabilitation plan in which JAL is expected to file for bankruptcy protection
under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law as early as next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, ETIC is planning to promote a junior executive in his or her 40s or
50s within the company to the post of chief operating officer.
Inamori said he is unlikely to work full time because of his age and would not
accept any salary for the CEO post. He will also step down as a member of the
Government Revitalization Unit, a body set up by the Democratic Party of
Japan-led government to cut wasteful spending.
The charismatic entrepreneur is known for building Kyocera from a venture firm
into what is now one of the country's leading high-tech companies and for his
close ties and support for the DPJ long before it came into power last summer.
The state-backed body had earlier hoped to keep JAL listed by limiting capital
reduction to over 90 percent. But it decided to seek shareholder responsibility
by making JAL retire 100 percent of its common shares in a move also aimed at
satisfying creditor banks facing a massive debt waiver.
Growing speculation of JAL's delisting sent its share price diving more than 81
percent to a new all-time low of 7 yen on Wednesday.
''The scheme we are considering right now is aimed at maintaining daily
operations and business transactions after securing sufficient capital,'' ETIC
said in a statement following a second consecutive day of panic selling on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The statement also included guarantees on receivables for payments of fuel and
other commercial transactions as well as continued availability of plane
tickets.
Other sources said ETIC is mulling setting up a budget airline company in a bid
to prop up its loss-making routes by linking two local international airports
with popular tourist locations in and outside Japan.
The body will aim to have JAL begin operating discount flights by fiscal 2012
through March 2013, offering low fares while saving costs, the sources said.
==Kyodo