Tag - investments

 
 

INVESTMENTS

Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki addresses a meeting of the Legislative Council held at the ministry on Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 12, 2025
Japan eyes measures to empower firms with details of de facto shareholders
Shareholder lists compiled by companies currently display only the names of trust banks and other nominal shareholders, making it difficult to identify de facto shareholders.
Volatility in the Vision Fund’s quarterly performance consistently dogs SoftBank, which has embarked on a project with OpenAI to invest $500 billion on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025
SoftBank swings to a loss ahead of big Stargate AI bet
The Tokyo-based company reported a net loss of ¥369.2 billion ($2.4 billion) for the fiscal third quarter amid volatility in its Vision Fund unit.
Employees assemble D-Max trucks on an assembly line at Isuzu's Samrong Plant in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand, in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025
Isuzu to build car plant in South Carolina as Trump tariffs loom
Isuzu plans to have the site up and running by 2027, aiming to employ more than 700 workers there by 2028 and produce 50,000 vehicles annually by 2030.
SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son announces  the Stargate Project, an artificial intelligence venture with OpenAI, during a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 3.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025
SoftBank eyes debt-heavy financing for $500 billion AI push
SoftBank and OpenAI’s push to build out tens of gigawatts of datacenter capacity has the potential to be the biggest rollout of computing power ever.
Fuji Media's headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2025
Fuji Media shares rise to 17-year high on Rheos’ 5% stake
Rheos, which manages a popular fund called Hifumi, holds 5.12% of Fuji Media shares after building its stake from Jan. 20 to Thursday.
Japan's current account surplus grew 29.5% year on year in 2024, the Finance Ministry said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 10, 2025
Japan's current account surplus hits record high in 2024
The surplus grew 29.5% from 2023 to ¥29.26 trillion ($193 billion) last year, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
Israeli military vehicles drive past destruction in southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel on Jan. 26.
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2025
Investors return to new-look Middle East, but Trump causes some concern
President Donald Trump's proposal that the U.S. take over Gaza may have thrown a curveball into the mix, but recent events in the Middle East have fed hopes of a reset.
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma will be acquired by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital for ¥510 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025
Bain to acquire Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in $3.3 billion deal
Tanabe Pharma focuses on therapeutic areas such as immunology and inflammation, vaccines, diabetes, and central nervous system and metabolic disease.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance will acquire Banner Life Insurance in the United States as it seeks to expand its business overseas amid sluggish domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025
Meiji Yasuda to acquire U.S. peer Banner Life
Japanese life insurance companies are expanding overseas for growth as the domestic market shrinks.
The stock of Nomura Holdings climbed as much as 7.7% to ¥1,077 in Tokyo on Thursday morning, the highest level since October 2008.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025
Nomura soars to 16-year high as profit jump cements recovery
The stock climbed as much as 7.7% to ¥1,077 in Tokyo on Thursday morning, the highest level since October 2008.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Ampere Computing, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025
SoftBank nears deal to acquire chip designer Ampere
SoftBank is discussing a deal that could value the Oracle-backed chip designer at about $6.5 billion, including debt.
Hisashi Hieda, executive managing adviser at Fuji Media Holdings
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025
U.S. fund seeks Fuji Media adviser Hisashi Hieda's resignation
U.S. investment firm Dalton Investments, a major shareholder in Fuji Media Holdings, harshly criticized Hieda in a letter, calling him a "dictator."
While Fuji Media Holdings is known for its iconic sphere-and-lattice headquarters in the Odaiba district near Tokyo Bay, it also owns office buildings, condominiums, hotels, nursing homes, logistic facilities, resorts and even two aquariums.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025
Fuji Media’s crisis entices investors betting on changes
It may come as a surprise that Fuji Media’s shares have surged 45% this year, making it the best-performing stock on the benchmark Topix index.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (right) and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an event on Monday to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2025
SoftBank forms joint venture with OpenAI in enterprise play
SoftBank and OpenAI said that the joint venture will help large Japanese enterprises in the adoption and training of Cristal intelligence in order to improve their businesses.
Tourists at a viewpoint near the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 1, 2025
Here’s the few foreign markets set to win on Trump’s return
As some countries are rattled by tariff fears, assets of nations seen as benefiting from close ties with the U.S. leader are getting an extra lift
Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group is in talks to invest as much as $25 billion in OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2025
SoftBank in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI
SoftBank has already committed $15 billion to Project Stargate, a joint venture with OpenAI to build data centers and other AI infrastructure.
Frustrated by policy uncertainty and modest stimulus, investors are shifting from long-term bets to short-term trades in China.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 29, 2025
Growth engine or casino? Global investors rethink China playbook
Investor uncertainty and policy shifts have fundamentally changed how analysts and money managers view China’s markets.
A government panel said Norinchukin Bank's huge losses stemmed from excessive investments in foreign bonds.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2025
Norinchukin urged to tap outside expertise and diversify portfolio after losses
A government panel has advised the bank to increase members of its board with experience in financial markets, including from outside the organization.
"The public and private sectors need to work as one to realize (Keidanren's) targets," Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said at a joint meeting of the public and private sectors to expand domestic investment, held on Monday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 28, 2025
Keidanren sets ¥200 trillion capital spending target for fiscal 2040
The target was unveiled at a joint meeting of the public and private sectors to expand domestic investment.
Nippon Life Insurance will establish a new headquarters division in late March to manage its foreign businesses, and its overseas insurance and asset management departments will be absorbed into that organization, people familiar with the matter have said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2025
Nippon Life to revamp overseas business operations after acquisitions
Japan’s biggest life insurer will establish a new headquarters division in late March to manage its foreign businesses, and absorb related departments into that organization.

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Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan