Olympus Corp.'s admission that it hid losses by overpaying advisers may lead to its delisting by the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is sparking criticism of corporate-governance standards in the world's third-largest stock market.
Olympus, the world's biggest maker of endoscopes, said this week it concealed losses by paying $687 million to advisers on a 2008 acquisition. The TSE said Thursday it moved the company to its watch list for possible delisting because of accounting fraud.
Olympus has lost more than ¥500 billion in market capitalization since mid-October, when the company ousted President Michael C. Woodford and he went public with accusations of fraud. The scandal may prompt Japan's publicly traded companies to improve self-regulation and responsiveness to investors, according to fund managers and strategists.