Tsuneo Watanabe, president of Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, became chairman of the newspaper company Friday, taking over from Kenya Mizukami following shareholder approval, the company said.

Yomiuri Shimbun President Hitoshi Uchiyama, 68, succeeded Watanabe as president of the holding company, while the 77-year-old Mizukami became chairman of the management strategy council, a newly created body.

The management reshuffle was approved at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting of the holding company of the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest mass-circulation daily, and the Yomiuri Giants pro baseball club, it said.

The 77-year-old Watanabe will remain the daily's chief editor and the owner of the Yomiuri Giants. Thus, Watanabe, a well-known figure in Japanese journalism, is expected to continue wielding influence over the nation's mass media, politics and sports.