U.S. fund Dalton Investments calls for Fuji Media's Hisashi Hieda to step down, criticizing decades-long control and corporate dysfunction.
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| Fuji Media Holdings faces pressure from Dalton Investments to remove Hisashi Hieda and reform its governance structure immediately. Yomiuri Shimbun file photo: TJN |
New York, NY, USA — February 4, 2025:
Dalton Investments, a major shareholder of Fuji Media Holdings, Inc., has called for the resignation of Hisashi Hieda, the company’s Executive Managing Advisor. In a letter sent to the board of directors on February 3, the U.S. investment fund strongly criticized Fuji Media Holdings’ governance and urged immediate reforms.
This marks the third time that Dalton has sent a letter regarding the scandal involving television personality Masahiro Nakai, who recently announced his retirement from the entertainment industry. The fund argued that the resignations of top executives, including Fuji Television Network’s President Koichi Minato and Chairman Shuji Kano, were not sufficient to restore the company’s reputation or win back advertisers. It emphasized that Hieda must also step down from his positions at Fuji Media Holdings and Fuji TV.
Dalton accused Fuji Media Holdings of having a “dysfunctional” governance system, blaming a single individual’s dominance over the company for nearly 40 years. The fund also criticized Hieda’s absence from the January 27 press conference addressing the scandal.
As part of a corporate governance overhaul, Dalton urged Fuji Media Holdings to increase the number of independent outside directors on its board without waiting for the third-party committee’s report, which is expected to be completed by the end of March.
According to financial data provider Refinitiv, Dalton is Fuji Media Holdings' second-largest shareholder, holding about l6% of shares—a figure that rises to 7% when including affiliated entities.
This latest move by Dalton underscores growing shareholder frustration over Fuji Media Holdings' handling of the scandal and its long-standing corporate governance issues. The company has yet to respond publicly to the investment fund’s demands.