TEPCO Head Resigns Amid Huge Losses

Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Masataka Shimizu said today he was stepping down in disgrace after reporting the biggest financial losses in company history. Shimizu, criticized for his low profile during the early days of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster, said he was resigning to take "responsibility" but vowed that the utility would continue doing its "utmost" to bring the plant under control. TEPCO reported that its losses for the fiscal year ended March 2011 totaled $15 billion—one of the biggest annual financial losses ever for Japan's corporate world. (Click to see dramatic new photos of the tsunami slamming into Fukushima.)