Japan's embattled Fuji Television Network Inc has called on around 50 companies to buy its shares to fend off a young Internet entrepreneur's bid for control, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on Saturday. The reported defence move is the latest twist in a $2 billion takeover battle for Fuji TV shareholder, radio broadcaster Nippon Broadcasting System, that pits Internet firm Livedoor Co against the Japanese corporate establishment.
Livedoor, which wants control of the radio firm to get access to Fuji TV's content for its online business, said on Friday it had narrowly won control of Nippon Broadcasting.
But the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) said Fuji TV has asked companies such as Hitachi Ltd and Itochu Corp to buy shares worth several billion yen to dilute the influence of Livedoor and its 32-year-old president, Takafumi Horie.
Livedoor and Fuji TV have been fighting bitterly for control of Nippon Broadcasting, a member along with Fuji TV of Japan's biggest media conglomerate, the Fujisankei group.
Fuji TV officials were not immediately available for comment on the newspaper report.
On Thursday, venture capital company Softbank Investment Corp emerged as a "white knight" for Fuji TV and became the TV broadcaster's top shareholder in a share lending deal.
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