U.S. investment firm Dalton Investments, a major shareholder in Fuji Media Holdings, is seeking the resignation of Hisashi Hieda, the Fuji Television Network parent company's executive managing adviser.
In a letter sent to Fuji Media Holdings on Monday, Dalton questioned the response of Fuji TV to a sex scandal involving former TV personality Masahiro Nakai.
The U.S. firm noted that while late last month Koichi Minato and Shuji Kanoh resigned as president and chairman, respectively, to take the blame for the turmoil caused by the scandal, Hieda, also chairman of Fujisankei Communications Group, did not attend a key news conference and remains in his position.
Dalton harshly criticized Hieda in the letter, calling him a "dictator."
"Why has a single dictator been allowed to control this vast broadcasting group for nearly 40 years? It beggars belief!" the fund said.
This is the third time that Dalton, known as an activist shareholder, has sent a letter to Fuji Media Holdings over the scandal. It also sought an immediate reform of the group's governance system and called for a majority of the holding firm's board to be composed of independent outside directors.
Fuji TV continued to broadcast programs featuring Nakai even after it became aware of the incident involving Nakai and a woman in June 2023.
The broadcaster addressed the issue in a limited way at a news conference on Jan. 17, resulting in dozens of major companies pulling their commercials from the network. Under mounting criticism of its media response, Fuji TV held another news conference that lasted over 10 hours on Jan. 27.
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