Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie has expressed willingness to meet Softbank Investment Corp. President Yoshitaka Kitao after it joins the management of Nippon Broadcasting Systems Inc. in late June, a South Korean daily reported Wednesday.
"We will make new proposals when we actually participate in the management of Nippon Broadcasting after its next shareholders' meeting in June. . . . I will meet Softbank Investment President Yoshitaka Kitao then," Horie said in an interview Monday with JoongAng Ilbo.
On Monday, Horie said he has no immediate plans to meet Kitao after canceling a meeting with the chief of the Softbank Corp. arm.
Last Thursday, Softbank Investment replaced NBS as Fuji Television Network Inc.'s largest shareholder by borrowing the radio firm's 13.88 percent stake in Fuji TV.
"We don't have to be hasty," the South Korean daily quoted Horie on its Web site as saying.
In the interview, Horie brushed aside suggestions that the Softbank-NBS stock deal might have scuttled his apparent plan to eventually take over Fuji TV.
"It's no crisis," said Horie, 32. "Livedoor owns Nippon Broadcasting and the radio company's stake in Fuji TV has only been borrowed. It will be returned," he said.
The stock loan involves Softbank Investment borrowing 353,704 Fuji TV shares from the radio firm under a contract making the stock loan irrevocable for five years.