Tokyo Nights
Life In Tokyo - Neil Stalnaker
Thursday, January 19, 2006
1/19/06 Livedoor....No Surpise.....
As many of you have heard the government raided the offices of Livedoor and the home of the president Horie on "suspicion" of wrong-doing. I have watched Horie and Livedoor in the media with interest over the past few years. I have enjoyed his style of business and have been kind of amused at the reaction he has gotten from the business community. His fresh and creative energy seems to bother some folks. As I watched the Nikkei start to "meltdown" yesterday afternoon, I couldn't help but think that someone had miscalculated the effect that Monday's raid and publicity would have on the overall market.

Speaking of publicity....I was amazed at the front page of the Japan Times on Tuesday morning. The Livedoor story covered 50% of the front page. There was a "tiny" space given to a story about Mizuho bank in which some staff had stolen over 1 billion yen from customers accounts! Another story (small) was related to the housing scandal in which a major contractor admitted that he lied about the information on contracts related to the ability of his buildings to survive earthquakes.
Apple Store Written at 1/19/2006 05:38:00 PM by neil stalnaker.