Release | If you truly love investing, invest for life _ Shim Hye-seop
Preface | Why I Became an Investor

Chapter 1.
What is a stock listing for?

Pros and Cons of Listing
A bureaucrat's perspective on listed companies
Studying corporate governance
Toward Fund Establishment: A Meeting with Orix President Miyauchi
Japan's first hostile public takeover attempt
Cool-headed foreign investors

Chapter 2.
Investors, Managers, and Corporate Governance

I had no talent for management.
My Investment Techniques: The Basics: Expected Value, IRR, and Risk Assessment
Separation of investors and managers
An excellent manager is
Corporate Governance: A System Through Which Investors Oversee Management
Introduce cumulative voting: Toshiba's big mistake

Chapter 3.
Attempting a proxy battle in Tokyo style

Invest in Tokyo Style
The interview with the CEO ended in 15 minutes
Chairman Ito's fury
The decisive shareholders' meeting
Why did you file a shareholder derivative suit?
The end of a long fight

Chapter 4.
Nippon Broadcasting and Fuji TV

The Fuji Sankei Group's unusual structure
Fuji TV stocks accompanying Nippon Broadcasting Corporation stocks
Thoughts of group company executives
Nippon Broadcasting Corporation begins investing in earnest
Our Abandoned Proposal
Livedoor vs. Fuji TV as seen
arrest

Chapter 5.
Hanshin Railway major reorganization plan

Dreams of Seibu Railway Reform: A Conversation with Yoshiaki Tsutsumi
And by Hanshin Railway
Executives who don't think about the future of their companies
Hanshin Tigers IPO Plans: Senichi Hoshino's Shocking Statement
Another shattered dream

Chapter 6. Investment in IT Companies: Venture Business Managers

IT bubble and its collapse
Hikari Communications and Crayfish
Yusen, Cyber ​​Agent, GMO
Rakuten: Hiroshi Mikitani's aggressive M&A
Livedoor: Takafumi Horie, who fiercely challenged vested interests.

Chapter 7.
Japan's Problems: From an Investor's Perspective

The evolution of corporate governance: from government-led to financial institutions and then to investors.
The vicious cycle that the Japanese stock market is caught in
For investors and companies to have a win-win relationship
Overseas Corporate Cases: Apple and Microsoft

Chapter 8.
Suggestions for Japan

Japan Corporation
Towards improving corporate governance
A representative example is Japan Post
Another challenge
To escape from being the world's most indebted nation

Chapter 9.
10 years since arrest

NPO
Regarding the Great East Japan Earthquake
Japanese real estate investment
Care business
food service industry
Asian real estate business
Failed Investment Stories: Chinese Microfinance, Greek Government Bonds
Fintech Investment

Reviews

A gambler who has planted a new vision for corporate governance in the business world.
Activist investors who advance without hesitation

The exciting memoirs of a 'big hand'
A living investment textbook filled with real-world experience

Yoshiaki Murakami's main stage was the Japanese stock market.
His investment philosophy is simple.
'Buy low, sell high.' This is a strategy I learned from my father, who was also an investor.
He calls the size of the return (profit) that can be obtained when taking on risk and investing 'expected value' and invests in targets that meet this expected value and rate of return.

Of course, he doesn't just invest and wait.
Say what you want to say and do it.
Going public means becoming a public entity and being prepared to meet investor expectations. If you don't like investor interference, you should delist, and if you don't think you can return profits to investors, you should become a non-profit organization.
They emphasize that a company's money is like a person's blood, and that the smooth flow of money is just as important for the company's growth, and that the company should invest to make profits and share them with shareholders, and immediately sell or return to shareholders any cash or idle assets that have been accumulated without investment. If that is not possible, they argue that the company should be delisted.

His first investment was the Tokyu Hotel.
A company with a market capitalization of 10 billion yen and real estate holdings in Akasaka, Tokyo, worth 50 billion yen.
He bought Tokyu Hotel stocks that were neglected and undervalued, and then pressured the management to sell the Tokyu Hotel stocks to Tokyu Railway for a profit.
Shoei, which invested around the same time, had a market capitalization of 5 billion yen, no debt, and assets of 50 billion yen, including 20 billion yen of Canon stock.
Murakami announces Japan's first public offering of Shoei, which remains listed without needing to raise funds.
Although the public offering failed, he made a huge profit by selling Shoei stock at a price that had more than tripled, while simultaneously making his name, investment principles, and improved corporate governance known to the world.

Originally, shareholders, who are investors, should select managers.
It is a principle of capitalism that a company explains its business plan to its shareholders, and the shareholders review the plan and then select the manager.
The corporate law is also enacted with this premise in mind.
But in reality, shareholders were being ignored.
Even among listed companies, there were few that managed their operations with shareholders in mind.
Shareholders who do not speak out also have responsibilities, but in Japan at the time, shareholders were considered faceless and had no opinions, and companies did not give importance to shareholders even though they cared about the opinions of their creditors, the banks.
"Who owns the company?" The debate still rages today, but back then, if you said a company belonged to its shareholders, everyone would look at you with a look like, "What is that guy talking about?"
(Pages 50-51)

Corporate Governance: A Prescription for Japan's Chronically Ill Economy
From the era of the bureaucracy to the era of the bank, the next era must be the era of the shareholder.

Corporate governance is a system for shareholders to monitor and supervise whether the companies they have invested in are being managed soundly and are managing in a way that increases corporate value, i.e., aims to maximize shareholder value.
At its core is the idea that important corporate decisions are made directly by shareholders through general shareholders' meetings, and that managers entrusted by shareholders manage the company to maximize shareholder interests.
Only when managers and shareholders maintain a tense relationship can sound investment and corporate growth be ensured, and the economy circulates as shareholders earn profits and reinvest them in society.
(Pages 51-52)

Murakami's strategy was both the essence of his own investment strategy and a stab at the very heart of the Japanese economy.
He believes that Japan, during its period of rapid growth, operated under the "government-led corporate control," but with the influx of foreign capital, transitioned to an era of "control through bonds," in which banks and corporations mutually held stocks.
Therefore, rather than pursuing shareholder profits or growth potential as shown in ROE, the company only focuses on maintaining financial soundness and safety, which makes it less dynamic and less attractive as an investment destination.
As a result, the analysis shows that funds do not circulate throughout the economy, causing the market to stagnate and fall into a recession.
And I believe that the way to overcome this is to infiltrate corporate governance into Japanese companies and the Japanese economy.

The Korean capital market is also facing the same issues outlined in this book, including the revision of the Commercial Act that expands the scope of directors' duty of loyalty from corporations to shareholders, and the trend toward corporate governance reform, including ESG.
This book is a memoir of an investor, but it also contains a candid account of the obstacles and frustrations that stood in the way of increasing shareholder value and improving corporate governance. It will serve as an invaluable reference for those seeking to map the broader picture of Korean stock investment.


The Japanese business world of 20 years ago was similar to that of Korea today.
Growth slowed, cash piled up due to lack of shareholder returns, and diversification into unrelated businesses continued.
The author, who realized that improving corporate governance is essential for continued economic growth, takes on the role of a direct player in everything from Japan's first public offering to the proxy battle.
He becomes a hero in the investment world, achieving great success in every company he touches.
This book delivers a refreshing shock to the Korean capital market, which is just beginning to reform corporate governance.
Lee Nam-woo (Chairman of the Korea Corporate Governance Forum, Visiting Professor at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies)

Investors, managers, and major players in Japan's financial world clash
Behind the scenes of a dramatic world

The Fuji Sankei Group was a media company with a complex and unusual capital structure in which radio broadcaster Nippon Broadcasting controlled Fuji TV and the Sankei Shimbun newspaper were intertwined.
The structure was such that if they acquired 50% of Nippon Broadcasting Corporation's stock for 120 billion yen, they would be able to control one-third of Fuji TV's voting rights, worth 2.62 trillion yen.
Even though not only the management but also the independence of the press was threatened, the management did not budge.

Osaka Hanshin Railway, which had a market capitalization of 100 billion yen and whose real estate holdings (stations and nearby commercial facilities) alone could be valued at up to 500 billion yen, was also a target of Murakami's investment.
Consolidating or jointly operating routes would increase user convenience, improve performance, and increase shareholder value. However, the railway business lacked any particular growth momentum and was prone to failure, so management remained steadfast.

In addition to a public offering against Shoei, Nippon Broadcasting, Seibu Railway, and Hanshin Railway attempted proxy battles with Tokyo Style, stock purchases, and shareholder proposals.
He shakes up the stagnant market by buying stocks of major companies.
In the process, he gained a reputation for his bold speech and actions.
Although he has been criticized as a "corporate raider," this book is worth reading simply because it contains his practical experience as an investor, showing how to identify undervalued gems and what methods can be applied to improve performance and return profits.
Moreover, the anecdotes he tells about the bigwigs and powerful players he met while investing add to the enjoyment of reading by dramatically conveying the behind-the-scenes struggles of the cold-blooded world of investment.

I told President Takano that I didn't know why he was building up internal reserves, and I gave him a long explanation of how listed companies should use their surplus funds and what the desirable form of internal reserves should be.
Then Chairman Ito got angry again.
“You, I gave you this much space, and you’re planning on smearing my face!”
However, as the fund manager, I was not in a position to unilaterally withdraw the shareholder proposal, so I did not back down.
“Mr. Chairman, I have no intention of doing that.
But I still need to hear an explanation of why the internal reserves are being built up.”
“Get out now.”
“I’m truly sorry for putting in so much effort.
Then I will excuse myself now.”
I greeted Chairman Ito and left the room without even touching the lunch that was prepared in front of me.
And from this day on, I decided to dedicate myself to the proxy battle.
(Pages 128-129)