Woodford agrees to out-of-court settlement with Olympus

no surprise here... the entire corporate structure is so corrupt that there is no way Woodford could have done anything to change things at the company. As evident in the way the shareholders backed away & in effect supported Olympus' tainted new board. He did the smart thing - took the money & ran.

Yeah, I doubt there is any amount of money the Olympus board wouldn't approve, to make this go away.

woodford, the hero, that so altruistically wanted justice done, to put to rights the bad corrupt japanese! such a disgusting hypocrite, all he ever wanted was the money, in very large amounts. he never cared about justice, he doesn't give a shoot about justice.

@Mike: No, he exposed, took on and stood his ground then got the money and will walk away.

The terms of the settlement were not immediately disclosed, but the payout was expected to run into the millions of pounds.

Yey! The justice served and prevailed for Woodford.

I believe this case will send a strong message (ethics and professionalism) to Japanese corporate managers from now on. Without this case, I could not begin to understand how some Japanese corporations are filled with corruptions, and behave like a tyrant. He sure deserves every pound he gets. I have been a strong supporter for Woodford from the beginning of the case and I am glad it ended as I speculated.

So, Takahiro, it would have been better for him to keep his mouth shut and take part in the corruption? If that's your idea of ethical behavior, we do indeed have a culture gap.

BOOOOOOOO! I wanted this to go to court rather than the usual Japanese "hush" money that so often gets paid and the guilty get away with.

Olympus said Woodford was sacked because the 30-year company veteran failed to understand its management style and Japanese culture

this is my favourite quote.. and this makes absolutely no sense and so SUBJECTIVE! There is now a precedent that has been set. Foreign heads of Japanese companies could easily be sacked because they "lack understanding of the management style" and... Japanese culture? Please...

Global, the only things Japanese companies will learn from this is a) don't put a foreigner in such a position and b) payout in the end before things get really, really ugly. I would love to be optimistic about it all but I'm been here too long for that.

I'm guessing there were lots of zeroes in that settlement.

woodford, the hero, that so altruistically wanted justice done, to put to rights the bad corrupt japanese! such a disgusting hypocrite, all he ever wanted was the money, in very large amounts. he never cared about justice, he doesn't give a shoot about justice.

That's conveniently forgetting that the reason he was fired in the first place was that he was exposing corruption in the company only weeks after taking the job. He was doing this BEFORE he was fired. He had the gall to upset the "wa" of the company, however, and was canned because "wa" trumps morality every time. He had every right to claim "unfair dismissal".

In the Olympus "family", you could be slaughtering babies for their eyeballs and the rest of the "family" would be expected to look the other way or the "wa" would be upset. If you don't look the other way, you're fired for "failing to understand its management style and Japanese culture."

Smart move by Woodford. The level of corruption at all levels would have been an insurmountable wall for him to try to breach.

This money is so important for him, especially in view of the fact that no one in this world, japanese or non-japanese, seem interested in employing him.

If he could find/read that original, widely-publicised Facta article by himself without the help of a japanese translator, he might have been employable as a cheapest translation assistant or something.

Congrats!

Mary, he'll probably come out of this with more money than you could possibly earn in a lifetime. And I'm sure he'll find a very good job elsewhere.

If that's your idea of ethical behavior, we do indeed have a culture gap.

How romantic! And naive. Please tell me the name of this country you come from where less-than-squeaky-clean business practices do not take place, be it of a global scale or as small as self-employed.

I'm sure its not over just yet.. ...another press conference for the self promoting Woodfood surely on the cards

I don't care he did "the right thing". Good for him for getting justice for his dismissal too.

But what's important for me is the small people that are the losers. Neither Woodford nor Olympus board members will suffer but the sacked engineers and workers that are the core of the company. But who cares for the lower class - money talks!

Good on him. I hope he got plenty out of this awful and corrupt to the core Japanese mob. Furthermore - I sincerely hope they go bankrupt very soon! OLYMPUS - DEADBEAT CORPORATION!

Global, the only things Japanese companies will learn from this is a) don't put a foreigner in such a position and b) payout in the end before things get really, really ugly. I would love to be optimistic about it all but I'm been here too long for that.

@tmarie, I agree. Japanese can go backward to the Stone Age while the rest of world are moving forward, It is still a choice of Japan.

Good example is Fukushima Nuke issue. Japanese govt had declined to accept offer from the US because PM Kan wanted to protect Japan's sovereignty. My butt. Look at the mess you are dealing now, it could have been avoided (no guarantee here) as these Nuke scientists (some live in my town) and the Nuke Special Task Force are well trained with lots of resources that Japan did not have.Their life is so focused on crisis like that.

Marie,it is very sad to see innocent Japanese are still struggling in this mess and we know domn well that we cannot reverse what had happend. I believe Japanese are too proud Samurai bunch. Sometime in life, Japanese need to learn it is okay to drop inflated pride if they want to be saved. That is nothing to be ashamed of. Use common sense time to time..

Daijoboots said:

How romantic! And naive. Please tell me the name of this country you come from where less-than-squeaky-clean business practices do not take place, be it of a global scale or as small as self-employed.

Nobody on this site has claimed their country is corruption-free and that's not the issue despite how badly you want it to be so. The issue is the ENTIRE BOARD OF DIRECTORS of an international corporation working to silence a whisleblower CEO who refuses to take his "hush money" and look away like every CEO previous to him did.

Nobody on this site has claimed their country is corruption-free and that's not the issue despite how badly you want it to be so

Please. Have we met? No I don't think so and you are just one of the many who claims to speak on behalf of others.

I take issue with ProbablyWrong's (apt name) comment which referred to culture, which implies many people or even a whole population. Just get that brush out and wipe it all over. And so I replied in kind. Then you get upset about a scale such as country.

The irony is that by bringing in Woodford, a foreigner to a top mangement position, Olympus were probably trying to make changes, at least superficially, but they assumed that as he was "one of them" to the extent that he would have a "quiet word" or simply turn a blind eye to what was exposed. If Olympus has the book thrown at it, especially by the U.S. authorities who take a pretty dim view of such unethical behavior, hopefully it'll make other Japanese companies think twice about considering doing the same sort of thing. It was naive to think that they could get away with this forever, but then again, look how long they were able to.

Despite stories like Olympus, there are definitely many professional and well-run companies in Japan, but it is simply too difficult for most private investors, Japanese, let alone gaijin, to be able to tell which companies' figures can be trusted. This sort of scandal happen again and again over the years, and many investors are cautious about future plans to invest in Japan.

How romantic! And naive. Please tell me the name of this country you come from where less-than-squeaky-clean business practices do not take place, be it of a global scale or as small as self-employed.

Finland.

Daijoboots said:

I take issue with ProbablyWrong's (apt name) comment which referred to culture, which implies many people or even a whole population. Just get that brush out and wipe it all over. And so I replied in kind. Then you get upset about a scale such as country.

Lol. That last thing I'd do is get upset over the comments of a total stranger who likes to stray into hyperbole. The sad fact is that Japanese businessman would prefer to not make waves when things like graft and other corruption are brought to their attention. The Olympus Board of Directors proved that statement. No hyperbole, no hysteria, just simple fact.

This is not the end of the saga. Woodford took this case to an Employment Tribunal where the burden of proof is Civil Law ( balance of probabilities) to gain some redress from Olympus. The FSA and FBI are still investigating the original case regarding payments to "advisors" with regard to a breach of UK or US criminal law.

Mr Woodford and his 'sweet' revenge. Now he can spend the rest of his working years, sailing away his boat......

My previous post should read "The SFO and FBI are still investigating" sorry

Olympus said Woodford was sacked because the 30-year company veteran failed to understand its management style and Japanese culture.

Is one of Japan's favorite excuses. You just don't understand Japanese culture. You're not Japanese. You lived overseas for one year and are therefore no longer 100% Japanese.

smart move but 60 mil is chump change i would have held out for 300 million atleast