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A mock-up of Toyota's next-generation Li-ion batteries for battery electric vehicles
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 6, 2024

Japan to provide new subsidies for domestic EV battery output

Handing out more subsidies will help expand the country's production capacity for storage batteries by around 50%.
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, ahead of the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 7, 2024

U.S. opposition to Nippon Steel deal 'very unsettling,' PM hopeful Ishiba says

Some experts say blocking the deal could undermine U.S.-Japan cooperation on national security, and put the lie to the notion of "ally shoring."
A Tokyo Star Bank branch in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024

Tiny Japan bank looks to grow by lending to offshore homebuyers

Japan’s weak yen and low interest rates have drawn overseas interest in Japanese property and boosted prices.
Nippon Steel headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel send letter to Biden on merger plans

A spokesperson did not provide details about the letter's content, but said it was signed by the chief executives of both steelmakers.
Marc Benioff, chief executive officer of Salesforce, speaks during a press conference at the 2024 Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 18, 2024

Salesforce’s new AI strategy acknowledges that AI will take jobs

The new strategy by Salesforce addresses the investor fear that job losses from AI could hurt the software-as-a-service business model.
Toru Yamasaki, president of San-in Godo Bank, says buying the Japanese government bonds are better for a regional bank like his than foreign debt.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 24, 2024

Japan bank stung by Fed hikes plots return to government bonds

A bank operating in Japan’s least populated area is doing something that may have global repercussions if its peers do the same.
Intel, once the world’s largest chipmaker, has become the target of takeover speculation since a rapid deterioration of its business this year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 28, 2024

Arm is rebuffed by Intel after inquiring about buying product unit

Intel, once the world’s largest chipmaker, has become the target of takeover speculation since a rapid deterioration of its business this year.
Japan's declining population has made it more difficult for convenience store operators to grow.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Oct 1, 2024

Some 7-Eleven owners in Japan welcome foreign bid, hoping for change

Some franchisees are concerned about competition from rivals and say they are struggling with rising costs.
Big nonmanufacturers' mood has improved, the Bank of Japan's 
<i>tankan</i> survey shows, underscoring the strength of domestic demand.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 1, 2024

Big manufacturer sentiment steady in third quarter, tankan survey shows

While the survey found optimism among manufacturers, nonmanufacturers expect conditions to worsen in the months ahead.
Nike has been particularly criticized for failing to prioritize runners, one of its key markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024

Nike seeks to wipe slate clean for new CEO and withdraws guidance

Investors are looking for the new CEO to rebuild Nike’s frayed relationships with retailers and staff who’ve lost faith in the company’s trajectory.
A standard Chocozap location is small and unmanned, which has made it easy for Rizap to add locations amid a chronic labor shortage.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2024

Gyms in Japan offer laundry, karaoke and hair-removal machines

Chocozap's oddball gyms were created as an experiment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Coffee house owner Vu Dinh Tu making coffee at a cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sept. 30.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2024

Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution

Coffee has become a byword for creativity and self-expression among young entrepreneurs — though their parents may take some convincing.
Toshinori Yashiki, a senior official at the Financial Services Agency, says the regulator will examine Japanese megabanks’ lending to private equity and other funds in the U.S. for risk management.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 15, 2024

Japan regulator to scrutinize megabanks’ lending to U.S. funds

The nation's largest banks are increasing what is known as subscription finance and lending to funds that provide equity or credit to private companies.
People walk along a street during morning rush hour near the Financial Street in Beijing on Oct. 8.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2024

Chinese finance professionals switch careers amid industry crackdown

The tightening scrutiny of trading, financing and dealmaking in China has brought pay and job cuts.
The average fee to send $200 from Japan is the highest among G7 countries at 6.94%, according to World Bank data for the first quarter of 2024.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2024

Wise becomes first foreign firm to gain direct access to Japan's payment clearing network

The move could put pressure on banks including megabanks and smaller players in the competitive market for remittances.
At least 10 firms have temporarily suspended some business activities with Nomura because of its market manipulation scandal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2024

Big clients halt trades with Nomura over market manipulation scandal

At least 10 firms have temporarily suspended some business activities with Japan's biggest brokerage because of the breach.
Debt-laden companies in Japan are rapidly growing in number, in some measures even faster than in 1992 after the collapse of its asset price bubble.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 22, 2024

Zombie companies may finally succumb to bankruptcy on BOJ hikes

Bankruptcies topped 5,000 cases for the first time in a decade between April and September, a report by Tokyo Shoko Research showed earlier this month.
Robyn Qiu (left) and her father Qiu Zhirong in their metal parts factory in Nantong, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, on Sept. 27
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 28, 2024

China's second-generation factory owners go digital to combat challenges

Flagging domestic demand in recent years has weighed on the manufacturing sector.
Nomura Holdings Chief Financial Officer Takumi Kitamura (center) speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 1, 2024

Nomura's profit beats estimates, though scandals cloud outlook

Net income more than doubled from a year earlier to ¥98.4 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30.
Workers at a garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, on April 16, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 5, 2024

AI supports fashion's climate goals, but workers may be left behind

In Bangladesh, about 60% of apparel workers, or 2.7 million people, risk losing their jobs due to automation.
Asian chipmakers, led by Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung Electronics, have collectively invested at least $117 billion in the U.S.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2024

What's at stake for Asian companies under a Trump presidency

Trump has floated the idea of a 10% or more tariff on all goods imported into the U.S.
The U.S. government has asked a judge to order the dismantling of Google by selling its widely used Chrome browser in a major antitrust crackdown on the internet giant.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 21, 2024

U.S. Justice Department proposes sale of Google's Chrome to curb monopoly

The proposed changes follow a landmark ruling that the technology giant illegally monopolized online search.
A mockup of a Northvolt battery at a factory in Skelleftea, northern Sweden. Northvolt transformed in a matter of months from Europe's best shot at a homegrown electric-vehicle battery champion to a company struggling to stay afloat.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2024

Northvolt files for bankruptcy in blow to Europe's EV ambitions

The firm said it has only enough cash to support operations for about a week.
Owning dollars has been a winning strategy for Chinese companies. The currency has been kept strong by high U.S. rates and falling Chinese ones.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Nov 22, 2024

Corporate China seeks dollars as trade tensions rise

Chinese firms are squirreling away dollars, pricing contracts in yuan and opening import lines to mitigate currency risks,
Attendees gather in front of a stage at the Capcom booth during the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba in 2018.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2023

Game publisher Capcom sees 1,200% gain over decade

The company’s shares are up by a third this year, outpacing the broader Tokyo market and capping off a remarkable 1,200% surge over the past decade.
A man plays video games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Tuesday. As AI platforms advance at breakneck speeds, hundreds of thousands of jobs in the gaming sector become at risk of being replaced by the technology.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2023

AI is rewriting the rules of $200 billion games industry

One major Japanese studio believes that half of the company’s programmers and designers could become redundant within the next five years.
International Monetary Fund chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 26, 2023

IMF urges BOJ to move away from yield control and prepare for future tightening

The remarks came ahead of the BOJ's meeting on Friday, where the board will release price forecasts and debate whether to adjust policy.
Trucks wait to cross South Africa’s border into Mozambique at Lebombo Border control in Komatipoort.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023

Global demand for coal is bringing mayhem to South African towns

The trucks began running through in ever greater numbers after South Africa became one of Europe’s main alternatives to Russian coal.
ESPN, the sports TV unit of Walt Disney, is licensing its brand to casino operator Penn Entertainment, further deepening the media giant’s ties to online gambling.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 9, 2023

ESPN inks long-term deal with casino operator Penn Entertainment

The move to license its brand for sports betting deepens the media giant’s ties to the growing online gambling business.
Workers at a WeWork coworking office in London
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 11, 2023

Flexible work will survive despite gloomy corporate signals

A growing body of research, trend data and surveys show that flexibility matters, and that work is now a thing we do, not a place we go.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?