It is said that there was a feud between Hiroshi OKAWA of Toei and Noboru GOTO of Tokyu Corporation behind the separation: although Okawa was reluctantly dispatched to Toei and became the president, which operated on a shoestring with multiple debts, and managed to succeed in its reconstruction, Goto was focused on development of areas along the railways for both Tokyu itself and the Group as a whole.
この背景には嫌々ながら東映の社長に派遣され、多重債務を抱え自転車操業で倒産寸前だった同社の再建を成功させた大川博と、東急本体を引き継ぎ東急グループの基本を沿線開発に据えた五島昇との間に確執があったと言われている。