JAPAN

Companies Hold Rapid-Fire Shareholder Meetings: Shareholders yelled “You fool!” and “Quit!” at the president of a scandal-ridden bank and demanded that Japan’s largest telephone company do something about its plunging stock price. But most of the 1,824 companies that held annual meetings the same day last week pushed through their agendas in 30 minutes, giving stockholders little chance to comment on poor profits, tumbling stock prices and scandals. Stockholder meetings in Japan often are considered formalities because most stock is held by corporations with close business ties that aren’t interested in public discussions of management practices.