Scandal-Hit Fuji Media Stock Trading Soars 1,767% on Shakeup Bet
Trading volume in Fuji Media Holdings Inc. shares surged 1,767% this week as a scandal prompted some investors to flee, while others piled in hoping the turmoil will usher in a management overhaul.
Trading volume in Fuji Media Holdings Inc. shares surged 1,767% this week as a scandal prompted some investors to flee, while others piled in hoping the turmoil will usher in a management overhaul.
A total of 237.8 million shares changed hands in Tokyo, compared with 12.74 million last week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s 56% more than volume for all of 2024.
The stock jumped 13% this week as some investors speculated the incident will prompt the company to replace management, improve governance and boost corporate value. Local weekly Shukan Bunshun reported in December that Fuji TV employees were involved in setting up a party at which sexual harassment took place, an allegation the company has denied.
“Investors think Fuji Media will have to take drastic steps, including management changes, as it’s facing pressure from activist shareholders,” said Yasuhiko Hirakawa, head of investment at Rakuten Investment Management Inc.
This week’s volume was by far the highest on record, more than three times larger than the previous peak in March 2005, when the shares jumped on reports of a takeover bid by Livedoor Co., a startup founded by Takafumi Horie.
Horie’s bid failed and he was later convicted of accounting fraud. In a YouTube video last week, the maverick entrepreneur called on individual investors to buy Fuji Media stock so shareholders can put forward proposals at its next annual meeting, expected in June. Horie said he’s also done so.
Activist investor Rising Sun Management Ltd. also lambasted Fuji’s management, calling its press conference last week “nothing less than a virtual car crash” and a lesson in “how not to handle crises.”
Fuji Media is likely to be targeted by activists, market players said, because it has unrealized gains in its property business and an extremely low valuation. The firm is trading at about 0.46 times book value, the lowest among Japan’s five broadcasters, whose valuations have been pressured by a shrinking TV advertisement market.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
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