Their rival company is planning a hostile takeover.
It came close to succeeding, and hostile takeovers became as rare in the 1990s as an underpaid chief executive.
If Olympus can escape a hostile takeover from a buyer who sees its shares are cheap, then it will need new leadership.
Activists have also demanded revisions to articles of incorporation and the unwinding of recently established "poison pill" measures aimed at preventing hostile takeovers.
Soon afterwards Switzerland’s Roche decided to abandon its previously friendly overtures toward Genentech, a Californian biotechnology pioneer, in favour of a hostile takeover bid.
Frieda: This operation's about to have a hostile takeover. Just call it a little power play.