The President of Werner Söderström Corporation (WSOY), Antero Siljola (57), has announced that he has resigned from his position as President of WSOY and as Deputy President & CEO of SanomaWSOY. He has also announced that he has resigned from the Boards of Directors of SanomaWSOY Corporation and Rautakirja Oyj and the Boards of Directors of their respective subsidiaries.
WSOY's Deputy President, Jorma Kaimio, will act as WSOY's President until further notice. SanomaWSOY's Board of Directors, which is responsible for appointing WSOY's President and Deputy President in accordance with the Group's administrative principles, will consider the question of Siljola's successor at its meeting on August 16, 2000.
Siljola's decision to resign is based on his wish to protect SanomaWSOY, as a listed company, from any negative association that might be linked with the fine that he received in June for contravening the terms of the Finnish Securities Markets Act.
The Helsinki District Court sentenced Siljola on June 30, 2000 to fines totalling FIM 125,520 on four counts of misuse of insider information. The Court concluded that, in his capacity as a member of the Board of Directors of WSOY and the company's President, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Rautakirja Oyj, Siljola contravened Section 1 of Article 5 of the Finnish Securities Markets Act by commissioning purchases of shares in the two companies in 1996, 1997, and 1998.
Siljola purchased a total of 450 Series B shares in WSOY in September 1996 and October 1997 at a cost of FIM 69,300, and 375 Series B shares in Rautakirja Oyj in October 1997 and February 1998 at a cost of FIM 149,250. The above shares are still in Siljola's ownership.
Antero Siljola was appointed President of WSOY in 1987, following a term as President & CEO of Rautakirja Oyj. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of SanomaWSOY and as the Group's Deputy President & CEO since May 1, 1999.
SanomaWSOY's management will make any possible further comments on this issue only after the matter of Antero Siljola's successor has been discussed at the Board of Directors' meeting on August 16, 2000.