Executives at a large Japanese trading company plan to take major pay cuts this year that are attributable in part to what has happened 6,000 miles away in Omaha.
Marubeni Corp., based in Tokyo, last week reported 2014 annual profit that fell by 50 percent, on worse results from oil and grain trading. Part of the problem was Omaha-based grain trader Gavilon, whose worse-than-expected results motivated Marubeni to write down the value of the company by about $419 million. Gavilon, a 2008 spin-off from Omaha-based ConAgra, was bought by Marubeni in 2013 for $2.7 billion.
Gavilon, said Marubeni CEO Fumiya Kokubu, has not integrated into the parent company’s existing structure as envisioned.