TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s scandal-hit Olympus Corp said its chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa has stepped down due to a series of media reports on the company’s problems and a plunge in its share price.

Shuichi Takayama, a managing director of the company, was appointed to replace him as president.

Kikukawa had taken over as Olympus’s chief executive after the company abruptly fired its British CEO, Michael Woodford, on Oct 14.

Shares of the camera and endoscope maker fell 7.6 percent on Wednesday and have lost more than half their value since Woodford was sacked.

The company is scheduled to hold a news conference at 1730 JST (09:30 BST).

(Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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