Isao Nakauchi, founder of the troubled supermarket chain Daiei Inc., has given up the right to represent any of the firms in the group, industry sources said Wednesday.
This means that Nakauchi, once dubbed the king of Japan's retail business, can no longer wield any direct influence within the Daiei group beyond his capacity as a major shareholder.
Nakauchi, who at one point sat atop a Daiei empire with 300 companies and a workforce of 100,000, has already given up all executive positions within Daiei, the supermarket chain he set up in 1957 initially as a drug retailer.