Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.16-053039/https://www.ft.com/content/e2469e65-df7d-42fe-8fa4-9d222bcb48b3

Vanilla” buybacks are no longer enough to placate shareholders of Japan’s biggest companies, with a string of conglomerates sacking chief executives and selling assets as the country’s corporate governance drive gains pace.

Toyota, Japan’s most valuable company, unveiled plans last month to trim its board from 16 members to 10 and make half of them independent, up from 40 per cent previously. It will also create a separate supervisory committee meant to enable stronger audits and monitoring of management.

Seven & i Holdings, owner of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, has embarked on a radical restructuring and replaced its unpopular chief executive, while consumer electronics group Panasonic is restructuring, cutting costs and exploring the sale of several businesses, including its iconic but struggling TV unit.

Other groups that have replaced their chief executives or are considering sales of non-core assets include Rohm Semiconductor, which is overhauling management as it prepares to report its first annual loss in 12 years, and Kyocera, which in January signalled plans to divest low-profit units responsible for $1.3bn, or 10 per cent, of revenue.