Tech CEOs who were Fired in 2011
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 30 December 2011, 20:36 IST
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Michael Woodford, Olympus
Michael Woodford, Olympus The Japanese camera maker, Olympus fired Michael Woodford, the British person who was also the first non -Japanese to be hired as the CEO of Olympus. He joined Olympus in April and after serving a period for six months in the job, he was discharged from his duties in the month of October on account of the Olympus scandal. During his tenure, Woodford was accused of differences within the management culture and disagreement with the board of other senior executives. His position was questioned over the money loss for the accounting fraud amounted to more than $ 1.7 billion(1.1 billion pound) which was paid out for advisory fees and for closing several deals and business acquisitions the company made since 1990,even before Woodford joined. It was revealed that during his tenure the company paid $687 million payment to some vague firm, Wall Street for seeking financial advice. Olympus alleged Woodford's move as an excuse to conceal the old loss. It also alleged that it was a so-called strategy or results of long drawn plan with a motive to cover-up the old losses the company underwent long back. The allegations also brought three other executives into the loop, who were charged for the security losses. However, the legal experts are continuously trying to dig-out more clues and information for investigation of the scam. Criminal investigations and third party panels are on the probe to determine if $2 billion or more funds were exhausted or drained out to hide the previous losses. Suspicion outgrew as investigators sway for possible clues which included links between payments and other sources. Olympus, acknowledged that for two decades, the company has invested an amount of $1.3billion for its merger and acquisition business for the recovery of lost securities. It is also being suspected as that the dubious link might have link-up to the yakuza,the Mafia "violence group of Japan" as revealed by local reports. The Olympus scandal faced severe criticisms raised on corporate governance amongst several news journals and officials to spill out the company image and business corporate values that are lagging behind.