Fuji Television said it had secured a 36.47 percent stake in the radio broadcaster, Nippon Broadcasting System, in bidding which closed Monday, giving it power over management decisions.

The radio station is at the center of a war between Fuji, Japan's top rated network last year, and Takafumi Horie, a 32-year-old who has built up the soaring Livedoor Internet firm since dropping out of university.

"The philosophical gap between us cannot be bridged. Our ways of thinking are incompatible," said Fuji chairman Hisashi Hieda, 67.

"Now we can exercise our right to veto even if Livedoor controls Nippon Broadcasting System. This is very significant," Hieda said.

Livedoor founder Horie has taken corporate Japan aback by wearing a T-shirt as he negotiates with men in suits and complaining loudly of being bored with the business world's slow decision-making.

He appears frequently on television with a model on his arm and has boasted that money can buy him anything, women included.

Horie has tossed around ideas for creating new forms of television, suggesting the development of interactive features that could let the audience buy an actor's tie or decide a program's topic of conversation.

Horie wants to get a majority stake in Nippon Broadcasting as the radio company has 22.51 percent of the voting rights at television giant Fuji.

Livedoor reportedly already has a 45 percent stake in Nippon Broadcasting.

Under Japan's Commercial Code, Fuji Television would need at least a 25 percent stake in Nippon Broadcasting to stop the radio station from exercising voting rights in the TV network.

The Internet company says it wanted to build "friendly ties" with the radio station and the television network but Fuji boss Hieda said that was impossible for now.

"He has mentioned 'control' and 'buy-out.' I don't think we can be friendly after this," Hieda said of Horie.

"He says television as we know it will no longer exist in 10 years. I want to nurture the television industry to make it the core of the media," Hieda said.

Nippon Broadcasting has also attempted to block Livedoor from getting more shares issuing "warrant rights" to Fuji Television, meaning that only the network could buy new stocks in the radio firm.

Horie has sought a court injunction to block the move, which he argues violates the law as it as designed to thwart competition in the market.

Horie's fate now depends on the court decision, which is expected to come this week at the earliest.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the Japanese government spokesman, declined direct comment on the media saga, only saying that changes of managers and shareholders should not be seen as "big problems."

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said only: "I am monitoring the development."

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