MURAKAMI YOSHIAKI, activist investor and scourge of Japanese boardrooms, knows how to rattle cages. On January 21st his family launched a hostile bid for Toshiba Machine, a maker of industrial robots. The company's threat to block the takeover by issuing shares should alarm anyone who cares about how Japanese firms are run, says Mr Murakami's daughter, Aya, who runs one of the family funds. The Murakamis want Toshiba Machine either to deploy its roughly ¥50bn ($456111) in reserves more productively or to return more to owners. Shareholders support the bid, she claims, but are being ignored. "If this is allowed to go ahead, what is the point of shareholders?" she fumes.
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