Sega reacts to Sammy invasion - Statements inside

Sega has released a reactionary statement to today’s bombshell news that sees pachinko giant Sammy’s CEO, Hajime Satomi replace Hideki Sato as Sega chairman, with the latter man embarrassingly demoted.

Sega released the following restructure clarification:

Sega Corporation announced today that at the board meeting, it appointed the representative director and to establish the new business execution structures to be effective from February 17, 2004.

1. Appointment of the Representative Director (To be effective February 17, 2004).

Chairman and Representative Director: Hajime Satomi.

2. New Business Execution Structure (To be effective February 17, 2004).

Chairman and Representative Director: Hajime Satomi (newly appointed).

President and Representative Director: Hisao Oguchi
Vice Chairman and Director: Hideki Sato
Directors: Tetsu Kayama, Akira Nagai, Hisashi Suzuki, Yoshiharu Suzuki (newly appointed)

Statutory Auditors: Kazutada Ieda, Iwao Nishi

Auditors: Kinzuke Miyazaki, Yoshiyasu Gemma

Two Directors of the Company, Masahiro Aozono and Makoto Kaneshiro, resigned their position as of February 16, 2004.

This was followed up by two statements on the above. The first deals with the appointment of Satomi and reads:

"Mr Satomi is well-experienced in management, and Mr Suzuki has proven front-line performance in the amusement business. Having them aboard in Sega board members, Sega expects to expand its corporate value and maximize the interests of shareholders. Sega will proactively explore opportunities of alliances with Sammy. Maintaining the on-going alliance relationship, Sega will work with Sammy as necessary while examining both companies' interests."

A second statement explains that everything is indeed fine: "Sega Corp. announced today that at the board meeting, it appointed the representative directors and to establish the new business execution structures to be effective from February 17, 2004. In the new business execution structures, Sega will work to strengthen the profitability and marketability to become the global independent content publisher in the entertainment industry."

Stay tuned for dedicated updates on this breaking story right here, as it happens.