Livedoor CEO Arrested as Japanese Internet Scandal Grows

[mandy]

The accounting scandal that rocked the Japanese stock market last week escalated Monday with the arrests of the high-profile CEO and other executives of Internet company Livedoor. Prosecutors charged Takafumi Horie, the 33-year-old founder of the company, and his colleagues with violating securities laws by filing false earnings reports.

Prosecutors have apparently focused on the timing of earnings disclosures; less than $10 million is believed to be involved. The company may have systematically used misleading reporting of the timing of acquisitions to boost revenue, Japanese media accounts have suggested.

...The arrests came a week after news broke that investigators had raided the company's offices.

That action helped spark a three-day sell-off of Japanese stocks, shut down trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for the first time in its history, and may have prompted an executive tied to the company to commit suicide...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/DKeZOIW6...rows.xhtml

[mandy]

Former Livedoor President Takafumi Horie and three other former executives of the company were indicted Monday on charges that they spread false financial information related to the takeover of a publisher in 2004, in violation of the Securities and Exchange Law, with an eye to making a profit, prosecutors said

The 33-year-old former Livedoor President Takafumi Horie has denied any wrongdoing since his arrest on Jan. 23, but the three other suspects, all 38, have apparently admitted to most of the charges and to Horie's involvement, according to sources close to the investigation.

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/6Lxn0w8f...rant.xhtml

[Kristijntje]

Japan's Livedoor, the company that took the country's Internet sector by storm only to have its business practices called into question, finds itself facing new threats to the survival of its business this week. The Tokyo Stock Exchange said Monday it would delist the stocks of both Livedoor and its subsidiary Livedoor Marketing.

Livedoor may be guilty of trying to do too much too soon, Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li told the E-Commerce Times. "They were hoping to become what AOL was supposed to be when it made the Time Warner deal six years ago," Li said...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/ilSZj7Ch...rges.xhtml

[regic]

Livedoor finds a savior:

Usen Corp and Livedoor Co said in a joint statement that they have agreed to a business tie-up, that will involve collaboration on internet business, including content.

'(By collaborating) Usen and Livedoor will enjoy broad synergies in media, particularly in content services,' the statement said.

and:

Separately Usen confirmed that its President Yasuhide Uno would personally acquire a 12.75 pct stake in Livedoor from Fuji Television Network for about 9.5 bln yen.

For Usen, an alliance with Livedoor would give it a web portal for its Internet services

full article: http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/...98654.html

[mandy]

Update:

Takafumi Horie, the 34-year-old Internet tycoon once heralded as a symbol of new capitalism in Japan, was found guilty Friday morning by the Tokyo District Court of violating securities laws at his company, Livedoor. He was sentenced to two years and six months.

Horie, who had pleaded not guilty and argued that the trial was politically motivated, is expected to appeal. Prosecutors, who depicted Horie as a greedy and lawless figure who had manipulated the books to inflate his company's stock price, had sought a four-year term...

full article: http://news.com.com/Ex-Internet+tycoon+i...g=nefd.top