Kinki Nippon Railway Co. plans to promote Vice President Masanori Yamaguchi to president of the Osaka-based carrier, succeeding Akio Tsujii, who will become chairman, company sources said Friday.
Chairman and Kintetsu Buffaloes owner Wa Tashiro, 76, will become an adviser on the board of directors, they said. The appointments are to be finalized at a board meeting following a company shareholders' meeting in late June.
Tsujii, 70, who became president in 1999, will be handing his post to Yamaguchi, 67, as the company's management reform plan involving personnel cuts and reorganizing unprofitable businesses progresses, they said.
Yamaguchi, a native of Nara, joined the railway in 1958 and became vice president in June 1999.