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Economist and Former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 10, 2024

German opposition obscures Draghi’s vision for EU renewal through joint debt

Resistance to calls for the region to invest up to €800 billion extra a year and commit to issuing common bonds prolongs a history of stalemate between rival ambitions.
Suntory Holdings CEO Takeshi Niinami speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2024

Seven & I takeover bid shows a shift in government, Suntory CEO says

The takeover bid has also left many CEOs in Japan nervous that their companies could be next.
Nippon Steel argues that its acquisition of U.S. Steel would be a win-win.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2024

Quiet assurances mooted as U.S. Steel deal shakes global order

Analysts and informed observers have been gaming out the possible outcomes and adding up the potential damage.
An MUFG Bank branch in Tokyo. The bank is stepping up its electronic trading capabilities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024

MUFG pushes to bring its trading into electronic age, except JGBs

MUFG is catching up to rivals, vying to become more competitive across fixed income and equities where electronic trading has taken hold.
People walk past the AstraZeneca booth during the first China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing on Nov. 28, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 16, 2024

AstraZeneca’s blockbuster drug scores major win in combatting bladder cancer

In patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the drug Imfinzi reduced the risk of disease recurring by 32% when given alongside the current standard of care.
The core issue holding back the quicker adoption of electric vehicles is the high cost and complexity of installing DC fast chargers, essential for quick EV refueling.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2024

EV charging faces deeper problems than we realize

The core issue holding back the quicker adoption of electric vehicles is the high cost and complexity of installing DC fast chargers, essential for quick EV refueling.
7-Eleven's parent company this month rejected a $38.5 billion offer from Circle-K owner Couche-Tard, citing concerns about price.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 17, 2024

7-Eleven parent's new security rating won't affect a buyout, minister says

The finance minister's comments appeared aimed at easing investor concerns about the move.
Sony last month officially unveiled a digital ledger, Soneium, while other Japanese firms like Toyota explore various blockchain-related initiatives.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 18, 2024

Sony joins a crypto push in Japan as calls grow for looser rules

The question for the government is whether to heed requests from the crypto industry for less onerous rules to lower costs and spur growth.
Google's lucrative ad tech business attracted EU regulatory scrutiny last year following a complaint from the European Publishers Council.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2024

EU publishers snubbed Google's offer to sell part of ad tech biz: sources

The European publishers deemed Google's offer to divest its advertising marketplace AdX as insufficient.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s plant in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture. The chipmaker is building a second plant in the prefecture that is scheduled to commence production in 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2024

Third TSMC plant in Japan remains up in the air 

Taiwan Minister of National Development Liu Chin-ching, who is on TSMC’s board, says it hasn't been decided yet.
Southeast Asian cities like Bangkok are benefiting from an influx of global trade and investment following years of deteriorating commercial relations between the U.S. and China.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2024

Thai scion bets U.S.-China feud will ease office glut

Thailand approved over $13 billion in investments in the first half of the year, up 35% from the same period in 2023, driven by Chinese and Singaporean investors.
A tugboat passes shipping containers being unloaded and stacked on a pier at Port Newark, New Jersey, in 2021.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 30, 2024

U.S. East Coast port strike set to start on Tuesday, union says

If union members walk off the job, it would be the first coast-wide strike since 1977, affecting ports that handle about half of the U.S.' ocean shipping.
Couche-Tard isn’t giving up on its takeover effort of Seven & I Holdings, the owner of 7-Eleven stores.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 9, 2024

Couche-Tard reportedly sent higher price of $47 billion for Seven & I

The fresh attempt to enter talks shows that Couche-Tard isn’t giving up on its takeover effort.
Mindbody ClassPass CFO Tom Aveston speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 9, 2024

ClassPass lands in Japan with eye on domestic fitness market and visitors

The company, which provides access to gyms on a membership basis, started operating on Sept. 19 with 200 partner gyms and fitness studios, mainly in Tokyo.
Capsule hotels were created as a way to deal with the amount of overwork employees tend to do in Japan. Can't commute home? Then spend the night in an tiny, affordable sleeping space.
BUSINESS / Tech / Longform
Oct 12, 2024

Japan wakes up to the market for a proper sleep

After years of sleep deficits and drowsy mornings, a growing number of products and services are being developed to help us rest easier.
Boeing factory workers and supporters gather on a picket line near the entrance to a Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2024

Boeing to cut 17,000 jobs and delay first 777X delivery as strike hits finances

CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a message to employees that the significant downsizing is necessary "to align with our financial reality."
FamilyMart's net profit nearly doubled to ¥65.4 billion in the first six months of its fiscal year, though its operating revenue fell 1.4% to ¥257.5 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2024

Lawson and FamilyMart post higher first-half profits

FamilyMart's net profit nearly doubled to ¥65.4 billion in the first six months of its fiscal year, though its operating revenue fell 1.4% to ¥257.5 billion.
Tokyo Metro priced its shares at ¥1,200 apiece. It is expected to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Oct. 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 15, 2024

Tokyo Metro raises $2.3 bln in Japan's biggest IPO in 6 years

The subway operator priced its shares at the top of its provisional range of ¥1,100 to ¥1,200, a regulatory filing from the company showed on Tuesday.
A Blade battery on display at BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2024

Apple secretly worked with BYD on long-range EV battery, sources say

Sources claim the firms teamed up around 2017 to build a battery system using lithium iron phosphate cells.
The ASML headquarters in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on Thursday. Semiconductor equipment makers such as ASML have unusually long-range views of how their customers are feeling, and at the moment, they’re flashing a caution signal for everything other than artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2024

ASML shows chasm in chip land: AI winners versus everyone else

The semiconductor equipment makers’ results sparked worries about the health of the chip industry, which is being hurt by weakness in non-AI businesses.
Ryuichi Isaka, CEO of Seven & I Holdings, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in April. Isaka is now assuring investors that the group's revenue will likely almost double by the 2030 fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2024

Facing buyout bid, Seven & I tells investors sales will double by 2030

The retailer aims to reach ¥30 trillion in group sales by the 2030 fiscal year, with a greater contribution from convenience-store operations in markets abroad.
Japan's factory activity contracted in October on subdued demand and weak orders.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2024

Factory activity down for fourth straight month, private-sector survey shows

In the service sector, firms said economic weakness in Japan and overseas had prompted clients to hold back on new orders, the survey showed.
Marubeni's headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2024

Marubeni-backed salmon farm starts Japan sales as part of diversification push

Wild and sea-farmed salmon is one of the areas Marubeni and its rivals have been targeting in Japan.
A Nvidia chip during the Taipei Computex expo in Taipei on May 29, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 28, 2024

How a Mumbai drugmaker is helping Putin get Nvidia AI chips

An inconspicuous pharmaceutical company exported 1,111 units of Dell Technologies' most-advanced servers to Russia in April-August of this year.
Toshiba may eventually form an alliance of companies that would corner 30% market share in the world’s power chip market, a company executive says.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2024

Toshiba aims for double-digit power chip market share by 2030

Toshiba could eventually form an alliance of companies that would corner 30% of the industry.
A perfect storm of political uncertainty at home and abroad is brewing for markets in Japan.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 1, 2024

Investors in Japan place — and hedge — their bets ahead of U.S. election

Donald Trump's lead in U.S. battleground-state polls, coupled with the outcome of Sunday's Lower House election, is fueling bets on the dollar against the yen.
A worker clears away snow as last-minute grocery shoppers leave a Market Basket supermarket during a fast-moving winter storm in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Feb. 13.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 5, 2024

In a changing climate, retailers turn to weather data predictions

Weather data, once used strictly for inventory planning, is now helping retailers localize advertising and decide when to discount seasonal items such as sweaters.
As part of the fukubukuro lineup for the New Year shopping season, Takashimaya will offer a ¥4.05 million luxury cruise ship tour to South Korea's Jeju Island and other locations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2024

2025 New Year lucky bags to offer extraordinary experiences

Customers are seeking "a break from their daily lives," according to one department store official.
A FamilyMart convenience store in Tokyo. Around-the-corner stores iconic to Japan help the trading houses to monetize on their food and apparel businesses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2024

Food and FamilyMart drive Itochu's half-year profit up 6%

Itochu kept its net profit forecast for the year unchanged at ¥880 billion, of which 24% is projected from food, textiles and the division where FamilyMart belongs.
Nissan sees its operating income plunging to just ¥150 billion in the fiscal year ending in March, down 70% from its previous forecast.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2024

Nissan cuts outlook and announces restructuring with 9,000 job cuts

The firm sees its operating income plunging to ¥150 billion in the fiscal year ending in March, down 70% from its previous forecast.

Longform

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