Chapter 686 – Hitting someone when he is down
“President, our share prices keep dropping!” The assistant came running into the office panicking.
Share prices dropped? Norio Ohga’s face was dark. When the papers reported this incident in the morning, he knows that this would happen and had stepped up measures to prevent this from happening. He exaggerated the sales of PlayStation to try to give the shareholders some confidence.
“How much have the share prices dropped?”
“It is already 5%.”
“What? The share prices fell by 5%?!” Norio Ohga was shocked. 5%? How come the share prices had dropped by so much? Although Sony was listed in Tokyo Stock Exchange, it was also listed on the New York stock exchange, and NYSE was their primary focus. But if the share prices fell in Tokyo, it will affect their share prices in NYSE.
At night, when the NYSE opens, Sony will have a crisis! If this crisis were not handled well, Sony’s total worth would drop by several billion USD!
Norio Ohga had achieved some success with Sony’s movie VCDs and lowered Sony-Columbia Pictures losses. He even felt that Sony-Columbia Pictures would start to bring in profits next year.
Also, the newly launched PlayStation gaming console will bring in high profits for Sony. Coupled with their CD-ROM technologies and their partnership with Toshiba, they would be able to develop DVD-ROM soon. This will be Sony’s newest revenue source. But everything was halted.
Now, all of Norio Ohga’s hopes were dashed because of the negative news and the drop in share prices!
The negative news will affect Sony’s brand value and their product sales. Whoever that uses Sony’s products will be despised by others: “Why are you using products from that heartless evil company?”
Sony had been making losses all these years. If it weren’t for Sony’s strong financial backing, they would have been bankrupt years ago.
Sony’s share prices had not dropped due to the losses. They had maintained their share prices with their brand while finding ways to turn losses to profits. This was also the reason why Norio Ohga was able to be promoted to Acting President.
But if Sony’s share prices plummeted under Norio Ohga’s charge, then the shareholders and board of directors will pin the blame on him and replace him!
“Is Mr. Akio aware of this?” Norio Ohga asked.
“He should be aware of this news. All the shareholders and board of directors should also be aware of this.” Before the assistant could finish talking, Norio Ohga’s phone on the desk rang.
“Hello? I know.”
After hanging up the phone, Norio Ohga’s face became more gloomy. A last minute board meeting was called, and the reason was apparent.
……
“Norio Ohga, you should know about our company’s share prices. The prices were dropping until the market close. It had fallen by 9.2%. Do you know how much losses we have suffered?” A director questioned.
“You have been with Sony for quite some time. From the time when you are still the Vice President, you sold AIWA shares to a Chinese man, our Walkman sales have been dropping year on year. Our market share had fallen from 60% to 20%. We can understand if the market share is taken over by Panasonic, JVC, or other companies. But from what we know, the market share is taken over by AIWA. That Heitaro Nakajima!” Another director shouted.
“What did you do for Columbia Pictures? A large amount of funds is invested in making movies, but none of the movies are selling well. You can’t even create sales from movie-related merchandise. We are suffering losses annually. Is this what you are supposed to do?”
Now, someone had mentioned something Norio Ohga could retort.
“I am not the one who decided to acquire Columbia Pictures. This was a collective decision. I am also not the one who chose to sell AIWA shares to that Chinese man. It is also decided by everyone here! I am the one who helped Columbia Pictures make profits from their old movie rights. How many VCDs have we sold this year? This is not considered my contributions to the company?”
“That is because the market is getting better overall, and it is not because of your efforts. After Nintendo’s betrayal, you supported Ken Kutaragi to develop our gaming console. How many funds and resources have we invested? What happened in the end? The PlayStation has launched a few days ago, and we believed your words that this product will bring profits to the company. But now, who is willing to buy our Sony’s products?!”
“Director Watanabe, how can you say this? We have been investing in the video game industry all these years. Are we going to give up years of effects because of Nintendo’s betrayal? We also need a new revenue source to increase our profits. Our PlayStation is also very successful. We used CD-ROM technologies in this console, and our product is the most advanced in the market. Is this not what everyone wish for?”
“CD-ROM? I admit that this technology is good, and to use it on the gaming console is very creative. But to develop this technology, we lag behind others in the development of DVD. We, Sony, have to follow Toshiba’s standards?! Also, your decision to corporate with Toshiba is a disaster. A disaster for our brand image!”
“Those are all false accusations. We do not have any factories in China. Toshiba is only producing some products for us. This is to lower our production cost and let us re-enter the Chinese market. This has been our goal all this while.”
Norio Ohga was almost bursting. He had to bear all the blames. This incident of environmental pollution has nothing to do with Sony. But Sony was burnt along the way!”
“Do you think Toshiba will come out to give an explanation now? Do you really think Toshiba will take full responsibility?”
Norio Ohga was quiet. If he was the President of Toshiba, he will also not take on full responsibility. After all, it was Norio Ohga’s instruction to get people to create trouble in China. There was no way Norio Ohga could escape this responsibility.
Now, this incident had blown up, and everyone suffered losses. It was too late for Sony to stay out of the way! If Sony were to push all the blame to Toshiba to escape responsibilities, then they will fall out with Toshiba. Toshiba will surely retaliate, and Sony will have one more enemy. Also, Sony will be out of the DVD game.
Sony’s Vice Chairman of the board suddenly speaks: “Norio Ohga, it’s time for you to step down. You have to take responsibility for all the blames. This way, Sony will be saved.”
Norio Ohga felt he was hit by a thunderbolt. He had tried to explain himself, but these people still wanted him to resign!
This moment was the darkest moment of Norio Ohga’s life. How did things turn out to be this way?
No! I still have one last chance!