After the rebel shareholders in Xerox effectively ousted the Jeff Johnson faction from the company and scotched their plans for a merger by installing their own regime, Fujifilm said at the time they would fight the plan. Fight it they have, by filing a $1bn lawsuit in damages in a court in Manhattan seeking damages for breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and a finding that Fujifilm is entitled to a $183m termination fee (the case is Fujifilm Holdings v. Xerox, 18-cv-5458, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York).

Bloomberg reports: “Fujifilm Holdings Corp. accused Xerox Corp. of caving to the whims of Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason in backing out of a $6.1bn takeover deal. Fujifilm sued Xerox Monday in Manhattan federal court over the failed takeover, seeking more than $1bn in damages. Xerox walked away from the deal on May 13th.”

Clearly Fujifilm have the knives out for Deason and his cabal in what has turned into one of the bitterest boardroom battles in recent print industry history with billions at stake.

Bloomberg says that Fujifilm accused Icahn and Deason of ‘yanking’ the Xerox board in many directions in order to get their way. However, following the board room coup Xerox says the original deal undervalued Xerox and was essentially a job creation programme for former chief executive officer Johnson.

The battle for control has now moved to the courts and further instalments are likely in this intriguing struggle for control of the once mighty photocopier giant.

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