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Reed Stevenson
A Couche-Tard convenience store in Montreal. Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard has made a preliminary non-binding proposal to buy 7-Eleven owner Seven & I Holdings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024
Couche-Tard might finance Seven & I takeover with debt
A leveraged acquisition would be feasible because of the Japanese company's strong cash flow, people familiar with the Canadian retailer’s thinking said.
A 7-Eleven convenience store, operated by Seven & I Holdings, in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 19, 2024
Couche-Tard bids for $31 billion Japanese retailer Seven & I
If realized, Canadian convenience-store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard's move would be the largest-ever foreign takeover of a Japanese company.
Yuki Kusumi, CEO of Panasonic Holdings, during an interview in Tokyo last week
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 16, 2024
Panasonic managers need ‘sense of crisis’ over low profitability, says CEO
The comments are unusually harsh in Japan, and especially at Panasonic, where the notion of lifetime employment was embraced for years.
Speculation has been swirling for months over the fate of Ito-Yokado, which was Seven & I's original retail franchise before it bought 7-Eleven and turned it into a large, successful business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 10, 2024
Seven & I set to split 7-Eleven from original Ito-Yokado stores
Ito-Yokado was the company’s original franchise before it bought 7-Eleven and turned it into a successful business.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 13, 2023
Sapporo Holdings to shutter century-old San Francisco brewer Anchor Brewing
Sapporo bought the maker of Anchor Steam beer to gain a foothold in the U.S. craft-beer market and make up for declining domestic consumption but has failed to turn its fortunes around.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2023
Toyota sets out the tech it says will equip it to sell millions of EVs
Comments and hours of presentations at a technology briefing contrasted with years of Toyota executives speaking cautiously about how quickly car buyers will be ready to go all-electric.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 25, 2023
Panasonic says Japanese carmakers are showing interest in its batteries
The Osaka-based company, which supplies batteries to Tesla, said last week that it aims to boost production to 200 gigawatt-hours by March 2031.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2023
Japan Airlines scraps promo discounted fares after demand crashes website
The abandoned campaign is a marketing setback just as demand for travel picks up, with downgrading of COVID-19.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Feb 7, 2023
Carlos Ghosn’s carmaking dreams disappear with Renault-Nissan revamp
The workaholic Brazilian-Lebanese executive, who spent much of his time jetting between the carmakers’ headquarters and factories, was the glue holding together the firms' alliance.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2023
Japanese CEOs facing inflation are talking more about merit-based pay
On one hand, such talk can be seen as a sign of corporate Japan casting aside the remains of a compensation system based on across-the-board rewards and seniority.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 11, 2023
Fujitsu to divest entire ¥140 billion stake in air-conditioning unit
The firm, which in its heyday made everything from supercomputers to chips, has hived off much of its consumer product lineup to focus on communications and information technology systems.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2022
The humiliating fall of Nidec billionaire's handpicked successor
The story of Jun Seki's time at the company is a cautionary tale of the risks of taking over from a self-made titan who finds it near-impossible to pass the reins.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 15, 2022
Toyota to unveil new Prius as hybrids lose luster to battery EVs
Even though the gas-sipping hatchback paved the way for Teslas and other fully electric vehicles, it's the less-hip option these days.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 5, 2022
Americans who helped Carlos Ghosn escape Japan are sent back to U.S.
The father and son sentenced to serve time in a Japanese prison for smuggling Carlos Ghosn out of the country were transferred to the U.S. a week ago.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 5, 2022
Knauf bid for Chiyoda Ute a rare example of foreign takeover success
The secret behind the deal? Seven years, a lot of conversations and plenty of patience.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 23, 2022
‘They’re just numbers,’ Indeed owner’s CEO says of record profit
Even as profit climbs, Recruit's embrace of human-resources technology has made it much more of a tech company, and exposed to the sector's corresponding gyrations in stock prices.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2022
Renault exploring sale of Nissan stocks to fund EV shift, sources say
Nissan itself may be willing to buy some of the 1.83 billion shares in the Japanese automaker that Renault owns.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 14, 2022
Nikon looks beyond cameras to reinvent itself as tech supplier
The manufacturer almost single-handedly brought accessible high-quality cameras to the masses but the rise of smartphones and more advanced chipmaking tech has taken its toll on revenue.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2022
The world’s biggest air-conditioning company braces for a hotter future
Daikin is pouring billions of dollars into research and development, looking to build on technological breakthroughs that could make its machines more efficient.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2022
Hyundai jumps back into Japan with an online-only, all-electric plan
The last time Hyundai sold a car in Japan was in 2009, when it pulled out after years of dismal sales.

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A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?