it's about the problem between the ex-avex president and Max (they had different opinions) and rumor said Max would leave avex because of that. Then, ayu said that (i forgot if she did announce it tho) if Max's leaving, she'll be leaving as well. There were also rumors floating around the net that a few artists would leave as well. As a result, the stock of avex went down immediately, and that avex president resigned in a few days. Max became the president in the end...
The thing is that ayu announced sometime later that she would not accept any award later on because of that incident. (like... INSPIRE was popular because of that). We never know tho whether she declined the award secretly or what...
Btw.. I remember that when she after she announced to decline any award, one or two days later the organization of nihon taishou (japanese record award??) said that they've never offered the award to ayu.. but then later on they changed their words again saying that ayu did refuse them beforehand... no one really knows which rumor is true...