Companies

U.S. Investment Fund Demands Fuji Media Advisor Hieda’s Resignation; Dalton Heavily Criticizes Fuji Media Holdings

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Executives of Fuji Media Holdings, Inc. and Fuji Television Network, Inc. hold a press conference in Tokyo on Jan. 27.

By Yasuhiro Kobayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

16:00 JST, February 4, 2025

NEW YORK — Dalton Investments, a shareholder of Fuji Media Holdings, Inc., announced that it had sent a letter to the Japanese media company’s board of directors, demanding the resignation of Executive Managing Advisor Hisashi Hieda.

This is the third time that the U.S. investment fund has sent a letter to the company regarding the scandal involving television personality Masahiro Nakai, who announced his retirement from the entertainment industry last month.

In the letter dated Feb. 3, the fund pointed out that the resignations of executives including Koichi Minato as Fuji Television Network, Inc.’s president and Shuji Kano as its chairman “alone will not bring back the sponsors.” The fund stressed that Hieda must resign as director of both Fuji Media Holdings and Fuji TV.

The letter also pointed out that “it has become clear to everyone, especially the public, that the governance of both FMH [Fuji Media Holdings] and Fuji TV is completely dysfunctional.” It strongly criticized the company’s corporate structure, asking, “Why has a single dictator been allowed to control this vast broadcasting group for nearly 40 years?”

The U.S. fund also took issue with the fact that Hieda did not attend the press conference on Jan. 27.

As part of reforms to improve corporate governance, the letter called for a review of the company’s corporate structure to ensure that the board has a majority of independent outside directors. It urged Fuji Media Holdings to take these measures immediately rather than waiting for a report by a third-party committee, which aims to complete its investigation of the scandal by the end of March.

According to financial information service provider Refinitiv, Dalton is the second largest shareholder in Fuji Media Holdings, with about 6% of shares. When combined with its group affiliates, the U.S. firm holds about 7% of the company’s shares.