How to Mess Up a Good Thing
Submitted by Bill Belew on Tuesday, 14 March 2006No Comment
The best way to mess up anything, good or bad, is to let a politician get involved. It’s no different in Japan.
Takafumi Horie, founder of www.livedoor.com was all the rage of the business press just a half year ago. Before he knew it, he was buddies with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Urged to run for a Diet Seat (No, he is not fat) he got his butt kicked. Shortly after, Horie and Livedoor was under investigation for doctoring its books. Sound familiar?
Livedoor’s stock plummeted and The Tokyo Stock Exchange had to halt trading for the first time ever. Yahoo, Japan, Softbank and Japan’s biggest online retailer, www.rakuten.com also took a dive.
Leave it to politics….
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