Tag - corporate-governance

 
 

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The departure of the head of Apple's App Store comes as the division is being split into two teams: one overseeing Apple’s own store and another responsible for alternative app distribution.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024
Apple’s App Store head to leave in reorganization amid global scrutiny
Matt Fischer, a vice president who has run the App Store business since 2010, will leave the iPhone maker in October.
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s proposed acquisition of Seven & I Holdings, if successful, would be an extremely rare case of a foreign company's buyout of a major Japanese firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024
Seven & I buyout would be a watershed moment for Japan takeovers
Until now, an attempt to acquire such a well-known Japanese business at such scale would have been dismissed as audacious and unlikely.
Wind turbines in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2024
Japan offers lifeline to ESG investing amid backlash overseas
In light of the anti-ESG sentiment in the U.S. and Europe, analysts said that Japan can play a key role in driving sustainable finance globally.
Activist funds added to their holdings during the Aug. 5 selloff in the Japanese stock market, an indication that they don’t mind taking significant risks to boost their stakes in target companies.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 19, 2024
Activists bought Japanese stocks during worst rout since 1987
Activists bought a total of 2.8 million shares during the Aug. 5 selloff, the most in at least 60 days.
Officials of JR Kyushu Jet Ferry bow at a news conference in Fukuoka on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2024
JR Kyushu ferry unit found covering up leak problem
The jet ferry service has been suspended since Tuesday, seen affecting about 22,000 people in the middle of the Bon summer holiday season.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi (second from right) speaks during a news conference in Osaka on Aug. 8 along with President Satoshi Yamane (third from right).
JAPAN / Society
Aug 14, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma fails to report 11 more suspected deaths
The 11 cases had been classified into a wrong category in the process of sorting out the inquiries made to its call center.
JPMorgan Asset Management (Japan) President Shoichi Okoshi speaks during an interview in Tokyo in July.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2024
JPMorgan wants a 30% female exec ratio in Japan
The Japanese affiliate of U.S. financial giant JPMorgan Chase plans to adopt the threshold within several years
Protesters for and against affirmative action demonstrate on Capitol Hill in Washington. As the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has intensified in the U.S., the number of so-called anti-DEI proposals have multiplied.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2024
For anti-DEI groups swarming annual meetings, even a loss is a win
This year, prominent conservative investors filed 42 anti-DEI proposals, up from just one in 2021.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi (right) and Satoshi Yamane, the new president, bow in apology over health problems caused by its beni kōji products, during a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 8, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma to withdraw from beni kōji product segment
The firm said it would offer compensation to those who suffered health problems linked to their products and prevent a recurrence of the incident.
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance and three other insurance firms will be issued with cease-and-desist orders by the the Fair Trade Commission for forming a cartel, sources have said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024
Japan's FTC to issue orders to four major nonlife insurers in premium cartel
The insurers are said to have started prearranging premiums on contracts for Keisei Electric Railway, in which they shared the risk of covering payments, before 2020.
Itochu is buying back ¥150 billion worth of its own shares.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024
Itochu to buy back shares and take full control of apparel and chemicals units
The deals are part of a trend of dissolving dual listings of parent and subsidiary companies to enhance corporate governance and improve operational efficiency.
Commuters take a subway home at Sungsu station in Seoul on July 15.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024
Declaring ‘crisis,’ South Korean firms tell managers to work more
In South Korea, the five-day workweek is only a generation old, introduced by labor laws in 2004.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has said the 50-50 control of LY, the operator of the Line app, by SoftBank and Naver leaves the messaging app vulnerable to cyberattacks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2024
SoftBank and Naver to sell down stake in Japan’s Line app
The tender comes as the capital structure of the operator of Japan’s biggest messaging app Line threatens to become a diplomatic flash point with South Korea.
Toyota Motor has been issued a correction order for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2024
Toyota Motor receives correction order from transport ministry
The ministry found indications of additional misconduct, such as falsifying test results.
Harley-Davidson motorcycles on display in Tokyo. Japan's antitrust watchdog has raided the manufacturer's Japan unit for allegedly imposing excessive sales quotas on its dealers.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2024
Harley-Davidson's Japan unit raided after quotas force dealers into hardship
The motorcycle manufacturer's unit in Tokyo is also suspected of having dealers buy Harley-Davidson models that they did not want.
The emphasis on lifting earnings is prompting more Japanese companies to boost investments abroad.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2024
Japan corporate cleanup fuels appetite for record debt sales
Japanese corporate dollar bonds have been outperforming U.S. peers, and borrowers have piled into the market with record issuance in recent months.
Shareholder backing for Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda slid to 72% at the company's annual general meeting last month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2024
Toyota chairman warns he may lose board spot amid falling investor support
Akio Toyoda said he may not be reelected as a director if shareholder support for him continues to fall at the pace it did this year.
Toyota's plan to buy back shares from major banks and insurers is part of a broader push to unwind strategic shareholdings with financial partners.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2024
Toyota to buy back stock worth $5.2 billion from banks and insurers
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Tokio Marine Holdings and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings are tendering shares at an 11% discount.
As of Sunday, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical reported 279 deaths and 2,274 hospital visits due to health issues related to its beni kōji supplements, among which 461 required hospitalization.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 23, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma's president and chairperson resign over health scandal
For the first time in its history, someone outside of the Osaka-based drugmaker's founding family will become its president.
Some 20% of Japanese companies have stropped creating medium-term management plans to respond more flexibly to changes in the business environment and achieve long-term goals, a recent survey has found.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 21, 2024
20% of Japan firms have no medium-term plans, poll finds
A survey found that about 10% of companies with medium-term plans are considering changing the duration of their plans or making other reviews.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.