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Potential Buyer for Nova

Despite the recent revelations of how Sahashi drove Nova into the ground and scuttled deals that may have saved the company, Nova may have a company or companies lined up to bail it out.

The Daily Yomiuri

The caretaker administrator of Nova Corp. announced Tuesday that they had started negotiations with three firms--one based in Tokyo and two in Osaka--to become corporate sponsors as part of efforts to rehabilitate the failed English conversation school chain operator.

The administrator said he hoped to be able to choose a corporate sponsor next week.

One of the firms showed serious interest in taking over Nova's operations in their entirety, he said.

The firm reportedly has agreed to hire Nova employees and foreign instructors, as well as accept students.

The three firms, however, did not include leading conversation school chain Aeon Co. or IT firm Rakuten Inc., both of which had initially been regarded as firms likely to support Nova's rehabilitation.

The three firms have yet to be named, and Ken Worsley at Japan Economy News and Blog offers an explanation:

It looks as if the bankruptcy administrators are trying hard to separate Saruhashi from the company he ran. This is probably in the hopes that someone will step in and buy what’s left of Nova. The administrators claim that there are interested parties, but no names were given - giving out names didn’t seem to work so well last time. This time we might not even get to hear the denials of interest at press conferences.

Hope being the key word here. It will be a brave investor who takes on Nova with the media dragging Sahashi through the mud over his lavish office, shady stock dealings, and efforts to ruin the company.

Update 11/01

NOVA plans to decide on firm to bail out business by next week

Collapsed English-teaching company NOVA Corp., which has filed for financial protection, is in talks with several firms standing as candidates to bail out the company, it has been learned.

All of the firms are operating businesses, and none of them are investment funds, officials said. NOVA hopes to decide on a firm to provide financial support no later than next week.

Toshiaki Higashibatake, a lawyer serving as a protective administrator for NOVA, said that NOVA officials talked with one company in Tokyo on Monday, and two companies in Osaka on Tuesday. There were reportedly other companies that were interested in stepping in to aid NOVA.

All of the firms in talks with NOVA planned to shut unprofitable schools, and pick up the business by reducing the current number of schools by about half. Some firms were reportedly prepared to guarantee a certain percentage of lesson fees that students had paid in advance.

NOVA reportedly plans to give preference to a firm that will maintain the company's nationwide network. It reportedly had offers from a firm wanting a split transfer, and received proposals from an investment fund, but turned the offers down.

Comment: It's good to hear that "real" companies, as opposed to the people Sahashi was wheeling and dealing with, are candidates for a bailout because it means instructors are closer to being paid. On the other hand, the bit about closing down unprofitable schools is cause for concern. This could be a lot of schools and it implies that there will be fewer jobs. That said, students aren't going to be happy about having to forfeit a percentage of their lessons as a result of a bailout. They've already been stung by Nova once, and if it's bailed out, it looks like they'll lose again.

Japan: 
nova
Eikaiwa: 
Naked Theft

Comments

I don't care so much if NOVA prevails. What I care about is getting my 600,000 yen! If all this gets me closer to my money, then I will be happy, cut my losses and erase all memories of NOVA from my brain.

me too.
just give me my money, biotch!

I hope they find an investor and NOVA continues on under different management. Surely, that's the best possible outcome for all concerned - unpaid, unemployed teachers and staff, and the students with unused tickets.

Of course, that isn't what most people on Let's Japan want. They're not happy until every inch of NOVA is dead and buried into the ground and thousands are jobless and penniless.

What annoys me the most about that is, is that most of the people gleefully dancing (prematurely) over NOVA's grave are people who left the company years ago. No doubt they're still bitter about having a holiday request denied or were ticked off by an AT for being late. Hardly anyone who has experienced real suffering and hadship over the last few weeks wants NOVA to go under completely.

It's not as if NOVA is selling something that's bad for society. Whoever described the language education business as a 'cultural asset' was spot on. But to hear the people on this forum speak sometimes, you'd think NOVA was selling guns and cigarettes to 10 year olds.

I wish there was a bit more balance on LJ instead of this laughing, bloodthirtsy hyena mentality, I really do.

All this talk about people wanting Nova to die.
Collecting Unemployment Insurance.
80% of your wages returned at some undetermined date in the future.
If I had a choice, I'd rather see the company survive with the students getting to use the points they already purchased (without having to switch schools and buy new texts and getting tangled up in the scams I'm sure many of the other schools pull), with my friends getting the wages they worked for before leaving Japan, the staff getting what the company owes them, and my unpaid wages.

At the end of the day, millionaires shuffling money around, taking government officials out to fancy dinners, lavish offices, and so on... mean nothing to me so long as I am paid for the services I render.

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinons and many people would love nothing more than to watch the flaming house smolder in its own ashes, but that does nothing for me. It won't bring back my time. It won't bring back my money. It won't help the students by limiting the number of schools to choose. It won't....fill in the blank.

So, with any luck, some company takes on the challenge and gets the giant off life support.
In the end, should Nova return, more people will be pleased than not.
That's the big picture.

Who in their right mind would trust Nova if they miraculously recover?

Existing students would only be going to burn up the rest of their points. New students would be reluctant to sign up.

J-staff would be retarded to go in since their pay is already 2 months late and they're not getting their bonuses. What incentive have they got left to go in for?

Many instructors don't trust the company as many have been evicted and no-one is getting (and probably WON'T get) paid. Morale is at an all time low. Why the hell would ANY employees go back to a company that has continually fucked us over again and again.

I realise that it would be under different management, but ultimately, they have a lot of work to do to gain back our trust.

The first step would be changing the name of the school to "Avon" cos it's all so fucking backwards!

I respect what you're saying, but ultimately, the majority of people want Nova to burn because we think it's the only way to get the monies that are owed to us.

Sahashi has been fired
I dont give a shit about him or how he fucked over the company...if he did illegal shit he will get his sooner or later.

Now all im worried about is being what im owed and new sonsorship.

Sahashi is old news lets look to the futture....

NOVA still has a good image with most of their students. I was one of the few who worked till the last day and the feedback we've got from the students was that they really would miss NOVA. Now they put all the blame on the Monkey and that's quite an intelligent strategy. NOVA fired him and that was long overdue. Now a potential sponsor is in the waiting to take on 300 - 400.000 customers and I am pretty sure the government will give a helping hand like they did with the banks some years ago. And in the end everyone will be happy: the students, the teachers and staff and also the investors.
Only you poor NOVA haters will be sad but who cares about you anyway.

Guys, I confess to being a nova hater and wanting to bsee it dead. so what.

yes, i do want my mates still trapped there to get paid, have their visas renewed, etc.

yes, i do feel for many of the students, especially the kind and naive 7-11 cashiers and aspiring rock musicians who went into debt out of curiosity for gaijin.

but i could not care less for those who let a minute amount of imaginary power go to their head. at-bt-aam-raam-etc-etc-etc. and when i say "die, nova" i mean nozomu, anders and flemming. ripped apart by hyenas while stung by south american killer bees as mariah carey croons on and on and on and on and on....

I too stayed until the end and I would do the same thing all over again. Students were extremely grateful for those who chose to remain. I felt as a teacher that we had a responsibily toward the people who were paying our wages. Sahashi may have been a jerk but that did not give us the right to turn our back upon our commitment towards our students. They invested a lot of money into us and I for one did not want to let them down. I only hope that I will be able to teach them once again. Hopefully we will be able to get rid of the shit teachers that infest Nova.

You had the right to turn your back on the students the minute Nova broke your contract by not paying you.

If you felt a responsibility to your students you would be still teaching them now.

From the article:

"The three firms, however, did not include leading conversation school chain Aeon Co. or IT firm Rakuten Inc., both of which had initially been regarded as firms likely to support Nova's rehabilitation."

I thought it wasn't Aeon the conversation school, but Aeon the shopping mall company that were interested? The news I read says there is no relationship between the two Aeon companies.

Anonymous (wheat from chaff), it's nice of you to feel committed to your students, but don't slag those that jumped ship when the money stopped. You can't pay bills with commitment to students, and when the money stops, it stops being a job and becomes volunteer work. These are not your family, they're students you teach for the financial benefit of a company that stopped paying you. Take a survey of random people in the street and ask how many would keep working if the money stopped. Or go to your favorite business (the one that you think values your loyalty and likes you), and ask them if they'd still provide their service if you stopped paying them for it.

Here's a better question. Do you think Nova would show any loyalty AT ALL to ANY student that stops paying the bill? Would they be given free lessons for their loyalty? Or do you think they'd tell them to come back when they have money?

Look, a job to many people is just a job. It's not a life. It's a business arrangement. Nova stops paying, people stop working. Many of those who left now have other jobs, and are making money to pay for their living.

My Nova manager tried the same tactic on me. When they cut our first break of the day on weekends to 5 minutes (from 10), I started writing 5-minute comments in the student's files. I was asked why I was writing such short comments. I said if they give me 5 minutes, I'll do a 5 minute job. If they give me 10, I'll do a 10 minute job. She replied that if I cared about the students, I'd stay after work and write comments. I laughed! By that logic, they could reduce all of our breaks to 5 minutes, give us an extra lesson a day with the time, and we'd all stay after work to write comments, because we love the students, while Nova benefits financially from the extra lesson a day that we're teaching. I'm sure they'd also reward us with a raise (cough).

You're an idealist, which is not always bad, but also a bit naive.

Actually, Anonymous, here's what I think. I think you stayed at Nova not because of loyalty to the students, but because you thought you were going to get paid eventually (and I know, you still might), or because you didn't know what else to do. If you had been offered another job, that actually paid money, during this crisis, you'd probably have taken it and left. But when people ask why you're staying in the middle of this terrible situation, it's easy to say "Out of loyalty to the students", so it makes you look good. I think it makes you look kinda bad, because there are many better ways to volunteer your time (say in Cambodia or India, where your efforts would be truly needed), than by teaching wealthy Japanese people to speak English (almost all Japanese are wealthy compared to the Indians or Cambodians).

That is what I think. Am I wrong? If I'm right, don't feel bad about it. Lots of people didn't know what to do, and it's hard when you're stuck in a foreign country, with no real network of support. Maybe you have a good grasp of Japanese, maybe you don't. But it's not easy to take the first step into uncertainty and leave what you feel is at least safe.

Hope being the key word here. It will be a brave investor who takes on Nova with the media dragging Sahashi through the mud over his lavish office, shady stock dealings, and efforts to ruin the company.

I agree, but I think the really big problem is taking on all that debt -and- pumping in enough money to effectively restructure NOVA in the hope that it will become a profitable company again. With proper management in place, who knows. All the crap may be forgiven. It looks to me as if the administrators have been making a concerted effort to pin all the blame on Sahashi (rightly) - the company itself has received little in the way of criticism. Indeed, the fact that the other directors forced him out and that the Area Managed tried frequently to do the same thing may be seen favourably.

Thu, 11/01/2007 - 10:50 — Percival Constantine (not verified)

No, that's not the big picture. The big picture is that Nova is not a reputable company. And yes, it will suck for the students and employees of Nova, but in the long run, it's much better for the market if a bad influence like Nova is removed and replaced with something better.

Nova has now become a cautionary tale and hopefully, the other eikaiwa will take notice of this and alter their business plans accordingly. That will create a better market not only for students, but for teachers as well.

There are a lot of people who work for disreputable companies -- Wal-Mart and Halliburton are the two that first come to mind. But their collapse in the long run would be better.

"Hopefully we will be able to get rid of the shit teachers that infest Nova."

Er, agreed that not all the teachers were that good (you could say the same about employees of any company) but who hired them? NOVA didn't set its standards particularly high, as much as the trainers and AAMs might have pretended or even genuinely thought otherwise. The bottom line is that Sahashi was only interested in getting the money upfront, and after that I don't honestly think he could have cared less if the students got crap lessons or not. If serious complaints did arise NOVA could point to its training/supervision/evaluation process as proof that it was doing everything possible to minimise problems and absolve itself from blame, and then continue as if nothing had happened.

Perhaps if NOVA had made the prospects for long-term employment a bit more attactive, there would have been more capable, experienced and motivated people willing to stick around for a while. As it was, if there were shit teachers it was NOVA's fault.

all arguments are irrelevant
over 60% market share
500,000 students on the books at its peak (not counting the past 20 so years worht of students)
there was a need, nova filled it
basic supply and demand

It seems a lot of people are hoping for Nova to go down and a lot of people are hoping for it to survive. I don't care which way it goes as long as it happens QUICKLY. We've been left in limbo for about six weeks now and there's been no sign of leadership or responsibility from above. All of us are bleeding financially.
So, if Nova can be saved and we get paid for work done that's great. But, if no company is serious about bsiling out Nova with all its debt and it's reputation in tatters, then let's hope the administrators have the good grace to pull the plug quickly.

You want those of us who need to pay rent so we are not homeless, and get that paper so we can eat, you want us to think about the big picture? the world would be better without NOVA? Not for us, not right now. The world would be much better, in the long and short run, if they pay my ass. Please understand why we all want this bail out to happen, our lives depend on it.

Dude, maybe they will make you an AT. or a BT, wow! The NOBOTOTRONIC implant is a bit painful at first, I heard. At least you won`t have to deal with any shitty teachers. It will be nobot interacting with nobot. I`m sure you`ll find the time to critique each other and the students at every break period and in your infinite wisdom, of course.

No, Nova was not selling a bad product but was a bad company. People who lose jobs deserve sympathy. Deluded losers who stay loyal to a scummy company even after they got totally screwed over deserve to lose both their jobs and pay.

This is the big picture.
1. While of course your students are not going to say such bad things about Nova, I can guarantee that outside your circles the opinions of Nova are much lower. Nova has a very bad name.

2. Nova's business plan was not working before the sanctions

3. Your students have zero loyalty to you.

4. English schools are a dime and dozen here. They are already sucking up Nova students and those who would have joined before the troubles.

If you think any company is going to be able to take this mess over and keep anything that even remotely resembles the Nova of old, you deserve all the bad fortune life could ever throw your way.

excellent post. so nice to read this kind of post after reading the posts from the parade morons who are still loyal to nova

The students are definitely loyal to the teachers.
This week I have taught a dozen lessons to Nova students, and more are calling for lessons.
i've been taken out for lunch and dinner, and old ladies have made me lunch to make sure I am not living off cup noodle.
Two business owners have setup classes for me in their offices to come and teach their staff and customers.
Some people might say I am a charity case, but the students are happy to help, and it makes them happy to feel they are able to help..
Several students also told me they won't return to Nova unless the teachers are paid first.
I'm not loyal to Nova, many students are not loyal to Nova, but we are helping each other out.
If you are not getting any help from students, then maybe you didn't treat them with respect before, and therefore don't deserve any in return..

No one going to Nova at the end was doing it for the company. They were doing it for students they liked, aaaaand waiting for their next job interview. : )

I know several people, including myself, who considered being at work a good way to avoid spending money between interviews.

people who work/worked for nova are/were not teachers. Check your visas, I believe it says that you are/were a specialist in humanities, whatever that means. After I quit nova and started working for the school board I had to change my visa status from specialist in humanities to teacher. However, the new job I had didnt really feel like teaching either. I hope this puts to rest the argument that some nova teachers are shit and others are good, and people who work for nova typically care more about drinking and bopping j-girls. Now that I think about it, a specialist in humanities is probably a male who drinks heavy and likes to bop j girls and doesnt care about anything else, so in fact they are better at their jobs than the people who think they are teachers.

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