The Mitsubishi shareholders meeting was held almost entirely online — just 20 shareholders showed up in person because of precautions to prevent transmission of COVID-19. Mitsubishi encouraged people not to attend and truncated the usual, hourslong event to less than 60 minutes. Every company official wore a mask, including Kato, who kept it on during his presentation.
One shareholder took issue with executive pay cuts announced this year. The investor suggested Mitsubishi should mitigate the cutbacks so executives would have more cash to spend to help stimulate a Japanese economy still reeling from the pandemic slowdown.
But Kato pushed back, saying: “I think we all need to share the pain.” He noted workers took a 10 percent cut when Mitsubishi suspended output at Japanese plants because of slumping demand.
In April, after warning that the company would post a full-year net loss, Mitsubishi said executives would have their pay cut almost in half. Base compensation for top-level executives was slashed by 20 to 30 percent, and performance-based pay was eliminated for this year.
The total hit amounts to around a 45 percent reduction, Kato said at the time. Last week, Kato warned that the company is gearing up for more belt-tightening.
Mitsubishi aims to cut global fixed costs by 20 percent, or ¥100 billion ($927.6 million), through the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022.
“We will start implementing these cost reduction measures as soon as possible,” Kato said. “We will cut costs in a variety of areas, including capital expenditure, R&D, advertisement, indirect labor and general expenses to reduce fixed costs.”
