Japanese Whiz Kid Vows to Win Radio Bid
Takafumi Horie, the 32-year-old president of the internet service provider Livedoor, vowed yesterday to press on with a controversial attempt to take over the radio operator Nippon Broadcasting System in which his firm already owns a 43% share.
"People ask me if I am another Rupert Murdoch," he said at a news conference in Tokyo. "Rupert Murdoch is the chairman of a media conglomerate, but we are planning to become a media, IT and financial conglomerate."
A successful bid for NBS would be a good start as it would also give him managerial influence over the Fuji Television network. NBS and Fuji TV have cross shareholdings and are affiliated to the Fuji Sankei media group.
But Mr Horie's attempts to expand his new media empire have met opposition from the targets of his bid and the wider business community. To them, Mr Horie's youth, impatience and unabashed ambition are anathema.
Fuji TV says an alliance with Livedoor is out of the question and has vowed to raise its stake in NBS to at least 25% to prevent the internet firm from gaining an indirect management foothold via the radio broadcaster.
Mr Horie has spent the past few days defending his actions after he surreptitiously acquired a 35% stake in NBS by snapping up shares during after-hours trading last month.
Politicians and executives accused his firm of apeing Wall Street's most unethical methods, particularly after it emerged that the after-hours share purchase had been partly arranged by the Japanese arm of the US securities firm Lehman Brothers.
The saga took another turn when NBS, in an attempt to thwart Mr Horie, said it would issue share warrants worth 15.8bn yen (£79m) to Fuji TV, diluting Livedoor's stake. Livedoor immediately sought a court injunction, claiming that the warrants were motivated by management considerations and violated Japan's commercial code.
The court is due to rule within days but Mr Horie, a multimillionaire, will almost certainly appeal all the way to the supreme court if the decision goes against him.
"People ask me if I am another Rupert Murdoch," he said at a news conference in Tokyo. "Rupert Murdoch is the chairman of a media conglomerate, but we are planning to become a media, IT and financial conglomerate."
A successful bid for NBS would be a good start as it would also give him managerial influence over the Fuji Television network. NBS and Fuji TV have cross shareholdings and are affiliated to the Fuji Sankei media group.
But Mr Horie's attempts to expand his new media empire have met opposition from the targets of his bid and the wider business community. To them, Mr Horie's youth, impatience and unabashed ambition are anathema.
Fuji TV says an alliance with Livedoor is out of the question and has vowed to raise its stake in NBS to at least 25% to prevent the internet firm from gaining an indirect management foothold via the radio broadcaster.
Mr Horie has spent the past few days defending his actions after he surreptitiously acquired a 35% stake in NBS by snapping up shares during after-hours trading last month.
Politicians and executives accused his firm of apeing Wall Street's most unethical methods, particularly after it emerged that the after-hours share purchase had been partly arranged by the Japanese arm of the US securities firm Lehman Brothers.
The saga took another turn when NBS, in an attempt to thwart Mr Horie, said it would issue share warrants worth 15.8bn yen (£79m) to Fuji TV, diluting Livedoor's stake. Livedoor immediately sought a court injunction, claiming that the warrants were motivated by management considerations and violated Japan's commercial code.
The court is due to rule within days but Mr Horie, a multimillionaire, will almost certainly appeal all the way to the supreme court if the decision goes against him.
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