Let's Invest in the Yomiuri mutual fund!

[Captain Japan]

Yomiuri exceeded limits for TV, radio interests
Archiveless Daily Gomiuri

Exceeding government-set ownership limits, an internal Yomiuri Shimbun investigation determined Thursday that the nation's top-selling daily effectively owns shares in 24 regional television stations and 18 radio stations in the name of third parties, including individuals.

The shares of the TV and radio stations are held privately, not being listed on any of the nation's stock exchanges. Among them, The Yomiuri Shimbun's total shareholding in nine TV stations and three radio stations exceeds the limit set by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry when shares held under third parties are included.

In light of this, the media firm has established an independent investigation committee made up of outside experts, including Noboru Matsuda, a lawyer and former governor of the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan, to conduct a full-scale probe. Meanwhile, the firm has decided to fix the problem as soon as possible.

Third-party ownership dates back to the 1950s, when the TV industry was born in Japan. On the occasion of the recent reorganization of the Yomiuri group companies, The Yomiuri Shimbun worked hard to ensure full compliance with all regulations, and through this process discovered the shareholdings held in the names of third parties.

The committee will be made up of experts including lawyers who have no corporate advisory contracts with The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings.

For other sound investment advice, see FG thread:
Japan's "richest man" takes another fall

[Mulboyne]

A black eye for the company's auditors. I love the way it is being passed off as an administrative slip-up rather than a deliberate attempt to circumvent clear regulations on ownership. No wonder people were getting edgy about Seibu.

[Mulboyne]

The Shukan Post is, rightly, crowing about breaking the Yomiuri scandal story months ago.
Weeklypost.com: Stock Scandal of Japan's Largest Newspaper Tycoon Spreads

Two and half months ago, The Weekly Post (TWP) reported for the first time on the dubious stock holdings of Tsuneo Watanabe, Chairman of the Yomiuri Group, a media giant in Japan. The Yomiuri Group owns the largest newspaper, TV stations, radio stations and other business entities.
Soon after this report, reports of falsification of securities by Seibu Railroad Co. emerged. The scandal was grave enough to force Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, Chairman of the Seibu Group who had an enormous amount of power over political, business and sports circles, to resign.
The Yomiuri Newspaper, the largest newspaper in Japan, said in an editorial, in reference to the Seibu scandal, "Securities reports of any business corporations are the basis for information on which investors rely. If they provide the wrong information, how can investors make investment decisions?" Now, the Yomiuri Newspaper's Chairman Watanabe is caught in the same scandal as Mr. Tsutumi's. However, The Yomiuri Newspaper said, "There is no problem in our company's case."
Is the Yomiuri Newspaper evading its responsibility?

The magazine has got Watanabe and the Yomiuri bang to rights. This bit is good:

Before The Weekly Post's edition that reported on Mr. Watanabe's doubtful stock holding situation, a strange thing took place. On the NTV's web site, the letters of Tsuneo Watanabe listed as the second largest stock holder was made unreadable.
TWP raised this question to NTV. The NTV PR person replied, "Mr. Watanabe's letter, 'be' in kanji, was in the old style letter. It was due to a technical problem, which made you hard to read. However, we have rectified the problem already."
It is everybody's desire not to doubt that NTV used such a cheap trick.

[Captain Japan]

A black eye for the company's auditors. I love the way it is being passed off as an administrative slip-up rather than a deliberate attempt to circumvent clear regulations on ownership. No wonder people were getting edgy about Seibu.

Chunichi Shimbun broke shareholder limits
Archiveless Gomiuri Shimbun

The Chunichi Shimbun has admitted holding in the name of third parties shares in 10 television and four FM radio stations in the Chubu region, according to the newspaper.

This means that the percentage of shares held in the broadcasters by Chunichi, the nation's largest regional daily, is greater than that of the shares reported to the authorities as its own holdings.

Chunichi's shares in seven of the 14 broadcasters, including those owned in the name of the third parties, exceed restrictions imposed on shareholdings by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.

Chunichi intends to set up a fact-finding investigative committee and correct the practice.

Seibu. Check. Yomiuri. Check. Chunichi. Check. Who's gonna be next?

[Mulboyne]

TBS has already declared they have "a problem".
But the exchanges have effectively offered an amnesty. The TSE has dodged responsibility on NTV and already said they won't face de-listing. That means all the publicly listed media companies can now come clean and so the private consortiums can do so too. There'll be a few more announcements because there's safety in numbers.
NHK is revelling in the opportunity to report this news since the other networks have been sticking it to them for the last few months.

TBS news from Japan Today Here

[Mulboyne]

[Captain Japan]

Surprise, surprise

Kyodo via Japan Today: Asahi Shimbun violates gov't rules on stock ownership

Sounds to me like Asahi should be a baseball team owner. Hey, this news wasn't in today's Asahi/IHT.