Contention continues over which sibling in the Wu family is the rightful chairman of Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corp (
Self-proclaimed chairman of the polyester manufacturer Thomas Wu (
"A photo-shot retaken from footage of the company's surveillance camera cannot prove that the letter of assignment [to reshuffle the company's board] had arrived before its board meeting" on Aug. 6, said Ku Jao-nan (辜昭南), secretary to the company's board, which elected Thomas Wu to its chairmanship in early August.
"Elder Wu wishes that his younger brother had sat down with him and resolved the chairmanship dispute in private," Ku told a press conference yesterday afternoon.
Ku said that the elder Wu would decide whether further legal action will be taken against the commerce department's rule based on the letter's arrival.
The letter of assignment to reshuffle the company's board became crucial evidence in determining whether the board that elected Thomas Wu on Aug. 6 was legitimate.
If the letter of assignment arrived before the board meeting, the board's action to give Thomas Wu the chairmanship would be seriously flawed, since the to-be-reshuffled board shouldn't have exercised their electoral rights.
On Aug. 6, Thomas Wu ignored his mother Wu Kuei-lan's (
The elder Wu acted on his own and took office as the company's chairman after the old board elected him to be the chairman. Wu further refused to obey his mother's demand that her third son should yield the chairmanship to his younger brother.
After a closed-door meeting of eight legal professionals on Wednesday, the commerce department appeared to have confirmed the authenticity of the footage from the company's surveillance camera and ruled that the board should have been reshuffled and that no chairman elected by it was legitimate.
The commerce department further ruled that Eric Wu is the lawful chairman since he was later elected by the new board, which rejected Thomas Wu's application to become company chairman.
The footage, which was pre-sented to the commerce department by Eric Wu, showed that an envelope with the letter of assignment was rejected at the com-pany's door before the board meeting convened on Aug. 6.
Officials at the commerce department were unavailable for comment yesterday.
According to local media reports, Thomas Wu has vowed to take administrative action against his brother if the ministry denies his chairmanship.
But Ku said that no action will be taken until the ministry's decision arrives in a written form.
SELL-OFF: Investors expect tariff-driven volatility as the local boarse reopens today, while analysts say government support and solid fundamentals would steady sentiment Local investors are bracing for a sharp market downturn today as the nation’s financial markets resume trading following a two-day closure for national holidays before the weekend, with sentiment rattled by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement. Trump’s unveiling of new “reciprocal tariffs” on Wednesday triggered a sell-off in global markets, with the FTSE Taiwan Index Futures — a benchmark for Taiwanese equities traded in Singapore — tumbling 9.2 percent over the past two sessions. Meanwhile, the American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the TAIEX, plunged 13.8 percent in
A wave of stop-loss selling and panic selling hit Taiwan's stock market at its opening today, with the weighted index plunging 2,086 points — a drop of more than 9.7 percent — marking the largest intraday point and percentage loss on record. The index bottomed out at 19,212.02, while futures were locked limit-down, with more than 1,000 stocks hitting their daily drop limit. Three heavyweight stocks — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn, 鴻海精密) and MediaTek (聯發科) — hit their limit-down prices as soon as the market opened, falling to NT$848 (US$25.54), NT$138.5 and NT$1,295 respectively. TSMC's
TARIFFS: The global ‘panic atmosphere remains strong,’ and foreign investors have continued to sell their holdings since the start of the year, the Ministry of Finance said The government yesterday authorized the activation of its NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) National Stabilization Fund (NSF) to prop up the local stock market after two days of sharp falls in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s new import tariffs. The Ministry of Finance said in a statement after the market close that the steering committee of the fund had been given the go-ahead to intervene in the market to bolster Taiwanese shares in a time of crisis. The fund has been authorized to use its assets “to carry out market stabilization tasks as appropriate to maintain the stability of Taiwan’s
STEEP DECLINE: Yesterday’s drop was the third-steepest in its history, the steepest being Monday’s drop in the wake of the tariff announcement on Wednesday last week Taiwanese stocks continued their heavy sell-off yesterday, as concerns over US tariffs and unwinding of leveraged bets weighed on the market. The benchmark TAIEX plunged 1,068.19 points, or 5.79 percent, to 17,391.76, notching the biggest drop among Asian peers as it hit a 15-month low. The decline came even after the government on late Tuesday authorized the NT$500 billion (US$15.2 billion) National Stabilization Fund (國安基金) to step in to buoy the market amid investors’ worries over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. Yesterday’s decline was the third-steepest in its history, trailing only the declines of 2,065.87 points on Monday and