Takata Waffles Over Chairman’s Resignation Plans

Takata Corp. has retracted Chairman Shigehisa Takada’s promise to resign after the company finds a financial sponsor to steer it out of its airbag inflator crisis.

At the company’s shareholder meeting on Monday, one irate investor declared, “The market is waiting for you to resign. Do you intend to step down?”, The Nikkei reports.

The newspaper says the reclusive Takada replied, his voice dropping to a whisper, “My responsibility is to pass the baton after making sure the company has reached a point where its survival through the crisis is a certainty.”

But after the meeting, the company issued a statement saying, “The chairman’s comment earlier today was not an expression of his intention to resign.” The company says Takata remarks were an “expression of his intention to cooperate in earnest in the company’s rehabilitation process, including how he will take his management responsibility.”

The Nikkei cites an auto executive who says Takata has made it clear to leader in Japan’s auto industry that he intends to step down. But the newspaper says the continued waffling over its chairman’s fate isn’t helping the company’s battered reputation with investors and consumers.