Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of Softbank Corp., was chosen best president of 2011 for the second consecutive year in an online survey of corporate executives in Japan, the Sanno Institute of Management said Thursday.
Son collected 140 votes, or about 30 percent of the total, for his generous donation to victims of the March 11 disasters and for other related activities. He was also lauded for his charisma and plebeian image, the college said.
The survey was conducted by an Internet research firm between Nov. 25 and Dec. 5 and received valid replies from 456 of 541 executives at companies with at least 10 employees.
Late Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs moved to second place from fourth last year after his achievements were recognized anew after he passed away in October, it said.
Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing Co., operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing store chain, fell from second to third place, after winning the first two surveys, which began in 2008.
Isao Moriyasu, president of DeNA Co., which runs the popular mobile game platform Mobage and has agreed to buy the Yokohama BayStars baseball team, and former Olympus Corp. President Michael C. Woodford, who exposed the camera and medical equipment’s maker’s massive “tobashi” loss coverup, made the top 10 list for the first time, ranking seventh and eighth, respectively.
KDDI could sell iPad
KDDI Corp. President Takashi Tanaka said Thursday the operator of the au mobile phone service may start selling Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet computers as a followup to its offering of the iPhone
“We are positive,” Tanaka said, without specifying whether he was talking about the iPad 2 or the next generation model. Tanaka also said KDDI will enhance its overall tablet computer sales starting next year.
KDDI began selling Apple’s smartphones in October, ending Softbank Mobile Corp.’s monopoly on iPhone sales in Japan.
Tanaka said KDDI shops are still experiencing iPhone supply shortages that might take half a year to rectify.
“We’ll catch up in six months (from October),” he said in response to complaints that KDDI is doing worse than Softbank in taking iPhone orders and rendering service.
KDDI has no plans to reduce mobile phone charges to counter the discounts being offered by Softbank, Tanaka said.
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