A number of major listed firms held their general shareholders' meetings Thursday, with many facing angry shareholders who are demanding that management take responsibility for poor corporate results.
NEC President Koji Nishigaki apologized to shareholders for his firm's lackluster performance in fiscal 2001, after the electronics giant suffered huge losses due to the fall in demand for semiconductors in the declining information-technology market.
"We feel that we failed to take sufficient measures" to deal with the market environment, Nishigaki said, bowing to the assembly.