Last summer, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the CEO of Olympus Corp., instructed the firm's executives to keep then-President Michael C. Woodford from finding out about a magazine article that exposed the company's dubious transactions, a newly published book by Woodford reveals.
His Japanese-language book, "Kainin" ("Terminated"), by Hayakawa Publishing Corp., is scheduled to go on sale Thursday. It describes in detail Woodford's battle with the camera and medical equipment maker's charismatic and unchallenged CEO and his board of "yes men."
The Briton, ousted in October after confronting Kikukawa and board members about the company's dubious money transactions, is currently working on an English version of the book, which he hopes to publish by the end of the year, said Waku Miller, his spokesman.