Chapter6Initial Public Offering

13.Going Public the Next StepGo Public on the JASDAQ

MegaChips growth continued driven by the strong business with Nintendo and continue to develop innovative products and technology. Then in 1994 Shindo was approached by the Japan Associated Finance Company (JAFCO) with an investment proposal and this set the next goal for MegaChips; to become a public company.
Shindo created a team to oversee and direct the work necessary to prepare the company for the IPO. The team was comprised of key employees as well as two leading securities companies Nomura securities Co., and Asahi & Co. The team began preparation and also created a stock option program for the MegaChips employees. This program resulted from one of the key management principles that MegaChips was founded with:
“Happy, passionate, and satisfied employees are the core of our success”.
Developing a stock option program was not an easy task and required changes to the articles of incorporation as well as provisions for disclosure and fairness to the employees and investors. A team was set up to assure that the program would meet all the legal and financial requirements while being fair to all the employees. Each department made their recommendations and in the end all employees received some stock options. In 1997 options were given to the initial 21 employees and the following year all the other employees received their options. By the time of the IPO in August of 1998 all the employees were shareholders, and MegaChips had accomplished two of the key management principles that the founding team created “to be a going concern” and “to be independent”

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14.Follow Your VisionPass the Leadership to Your Successor

Shindo had a vision that was both financial and social and was an inspiration to other startup companies. Being the first fabless semiconductor company in Japan MegaChips became a role model for other startup companies that wanted to do something different that had not been done before. He was able to fulfill his social responsibilities to be setting yet another trend and being the first company to provide stock options to employees enabling them to take ownership in the company and its vision. They were also able to consistently adhere to company principles and maintained their independence.
After the listing on the JASDAQ was completed Shindo started to prepare for the next steps to be listed on the Tokyo Stock exchange and finally to hand over the company to his successor. As he told Matsuoka one day when he returned from a meeting at the JASDAQ “I am a twentieth century man, so I want you and the other startup members run the business in 21st century. I will resign at the next shareholders’ meeting.” At that time Shindo had just turned 60 and ready to try something new.
Under the leadership of Matsuoka MegaChips was listed on the Tokyo stock Exchange in December of 2000; and has continued to follow the management principles that were created when MegaChips was founded, placing high value on employees and society.

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