In 2011, the company attracted worldwide media scrutiny when it fired its newly appointed English chief executive (CEO) Michael Christopher Woodford, a 30-year Olympus veteran, for probing into financial irregularities and unexplained payments totaling hundreds of millions of US dollars. Although the board initially dismissed Woodford's concerns via mass media as "disruptive" and Woodford himself as failing to grasp the local culture, the matter quickly snowballed into a corporate corruption scandal concerning alleged concealment of more than ¥117.7 billion ($1.5 billion) in investment losses, kickbacks, and covert payments to criminal organizations dating back as far as the 1980s. One of the longest-lasting accounting scandals in Japanese corporate history, the incident wiped out over three-quarters of the company's valuation and led much of the board to resign in disgrace. Investigations were launched across Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, culminating in the arrests of numerous corporate directors, senior managers, auditors, and bankers and raising significant concerns over prevailing standards of corporate governance and transparency,Banyan (16 February 2012). "Arrested development". The Economist. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. as well as the state of Japanese financial markets. Woodford himself, who stated he had received death threats for his role in exposing the cover-up, was reportedly awarded £10 million ($16 million) in damages for defamation and wrongful dismissal. In the wake of this turmoil, Olympus announced plans to shed 2,700 jobs (seven percent of its workforce) and shut 40 percent of its 30 manufacturing plants by 2015.
In 2011 the company attracted worldwide media scrutiny when it fired its newly appointed English chief executive (CEO) Michael Christopher Woodford a 30-year Olympus veteran for probing into financial irregularities and unexplained payments totaling hundreds of millions of US dollars Although the board initially dismissed Woodford's concerns via mass media as "disruptive" and Woodford himself as failing to grasp the local culture the matter quickly snowballed into a corporate corruption scandal concerning alleged concealment of more than ¥1177 billion ($15 billion) in investment losses kickbacks and covert payments to criminal organizations dating back as far as the 1980s One of the longest-lasting accounting scandals in Japanese corporate history the incident wiped out over three-quarters of the company's valuation and led much of the board to resign in disgrace Investigations were launched across Japan the United Kingdom and the United States culminating in the arrests of numerous corporate directors senior managers auditors and bankers and raising significant concerns over prevailing standards of corporate governance and transparencyBanyan (16 February 2012) "Arrested development" The Economist Archived from the original on 6 March 2012 as well as the state of Japanese financial markets Woodford himself who stated he had received death threats for his role in exposing the cover-up was reportedly awarded £10 million ($16 million) in damages for defamation and wrongful dismissal In the wake of this turmoil Olympus announced plans to shed 2700 jobs (seven percent of its workforce) and shut 40 percent of its 30 manufacturing plants by 2015