CyberAgent CEO Fujita on Horie August 9, 2006
Posted by fukumimi in Internet, Japan.trackback
It is being reported that CyberAgent CEO Susumu Fujita made a comment on his video podcast (or videocast or vodcast or whatever the format is called) saying that CA is considering asking Horie to join CA as CTO, once Horie’s trial is over.
Fujita has been a vocal supporter of Horie in the past, but I wonder how the market will react to this news, made whilst Horie’s innocence/guilt remains unproven. Should a publicly listed company be associating itself with an individual arrested on serious charges of financial misconduct? I would suggest that CEOs should take extreme care when discussing issues which are likely to give people an insight into their personal value systems.
Is Horie a suitable candidate for CTO of CA in any case? People who are familiar with the operations of Livedoor in the recent past suggest that Horie was not the technical driving force behind Livedoor.
from the inside, looking in 
Talk to technical people (i.e. engineers) who have left Livedoor (one of their ex-CTO’s is at a popular blogging service provider) and you’ll be assured that Horie was NOT the technical driving force of Livedoor.
Yeah, I was being diplomatic….