• NY Times, Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10 AM

An inquiry into the possible securities violations of Japanese Web portal Livedoor sent Japanese stocks tumbling more than 450 points Tuesday. The news comes after a tepid first day of fourth quarter earnings for U.S. tech companies--including Yahoo!, whose stock fell 13 percent after it failed to meet Wall Street's expectations. On Monday, more than a dozen investigators raided the offices of Livedoor as well as the home of CEO Takafumi Horie, as tipped-off prosecutors and news broadcasters waited in the wings. Prosecutors did not release details about the company's suspected violations. In response, the Japanese Nikkei, the country's benchmark 225-stock index, dropped 2.8 percent with the sharpest sell-off occurring in Internet-related stocks. Sales were so brisk, in fact, the Tokyo Stock Exchange halted trading some twenty minutes early due to overload. Livedoor's shares fell 14.4 percent yesterday following news of the raid.

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