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December 04, 2024
 

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SOFTBANK

The PayPay app had about 60 million registered users as of October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2024
SoftBank group firm PayPay Securities aims to double accounts
The company has been in the red since February 2021, with a net loss of ¥4.6 billion ($29 million) for the 2023 fiscal year.
Elliott Investment Management's sizable stake in Sumitomo reflects a growing shareholder activism in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2024
Activist investor campaigns hit record high, driven by Japan
The number of new activists campaigns totaled 147, up 7% from 138 in the same period in 2023 and 29% above the five-year average.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the company's annual general meeting in Tokyo last Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2024
SoftBank to back AI startup Perplexity at $3 billion valuation
SoftBank will invest between $10 million and $20 million in the firm, which aims to use AI to compete with Alphabet’s Google search.
LINE, the app at the center of a tug-of-war for control. Line was introduced in Japan in 2011 by Naver, the operator of South Korea’s leading search engine.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 24, 2024
Japan and South Korea are fighting over an app at a tense time
Leaders on both the Japanese and South Korean sides appear determined to prevent the quarrel over Line from escalating.
Softbank Group CEO Masayoshi Son speaks during the annual general shareholders' meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 21, 2024
SoftBank’s Son aims to create ‘super’ AI in new investment drive
He envisions a future when Arm Holdings chips support an ecosystem of technology that can collectively cure cancer, clean houses and play with children.
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son says the conglomerate is ready to make its next big move, without fear of whether that’ll be a hit or miss.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2024
After losses, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son says he's ready for his next big bet
The billionaire has warned that his next big endeavor could be a big hit or a bad flop — but that SoftBank has no choice but to try.
Debt rating firms have raised SoftBank Group’s grade as the Tokyo-based company’s earnings from investments begin to stabilize.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2024
SoftBank’s bond underwriting fee drops for first time in decade
The firm paid brokerages ¥1.10 per ¥100 to underwrite ¥550 billion of seven-year notes for individual investors, according to a company filing.
Sharp's LCD production site in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, in 2009
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2024
Sharp's LCD plant in Osaka set to be transformed into massive AI data center
The new large-scale facility will support SoftBank’s generative AI and other AI-related businesses.
Line, which has evolved into an all-encompassing app used for messaging, payments, job searches and more, is now at the center of a dispute over its ownership.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2024
Why Line, a superapp, sparked a diplomatic dispute
Line, which has evolved into an all-encompassing app used for messaging, payments, job searches and more, is now at the center of a dispute over its ownership.
SoftBank is working to develop artificial intelligence-enabled software that softens the tone of customers' voices.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2024
SoftBank looks at 'softening' angry customer calls with AI
The issue of harassment of staff working in the service industry has gained more awareness in recent years.
SoftBank is regaining its footing just as founder Masayoshi Son readies sizable investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024
SoftBank to get more aggressive on AI after profit and asset sales
The company earned a better-than-expected net income in the March quarter, helped by investment gains.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in 2019. Son is said to be selling off assets from the Vision Fund’s portfolio as he prepares for possible forays into AI and related hardware.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024
SoftBank's Vision Fund lightens asset load as Son pivots to AI and chips
Son has moved on to new obsessions, inspired in part by the success of Arm — which has soared in value to around $106 billion since its market debut.
SoftBank is in talks with South Korea's Naver over control of LY, which operates the popular messaging app Line, the telecommunications firm's CEO has said.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2024
SoftBank in talks with Naver over control of Line operator LY
LY is majority owned by a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Graphcore, a struggling British semiconductor startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024
SoftBank said to be in talks to buy troubled AI chip firm Graphcore
Graphcore reported just $2.7 million in revenue for 2022, a 46% drop from the prior year, according to its latest financial report.
The Lions' Yuji Kaneko hit .219 in the team's first 25 games of the season.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Apr 29, 2024
Lions muzzled by poor performance at plate
The record will show the Seibu Lions lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Sunday after a 2-2 slider from Jefry Yan got away from catcher Takeru Furuichi as Riku Ogata raced home to score the walk-off run in the 12th inning of a 3-2 Hawks win.
Buffaloes pitcher Shunpeita Yamashita will be one of the hurlers trying to fill the void left by the departure of ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 28, 2024
Pacific League pennant set to be tight race as Buffaloes chase dynasty in 2024
The Buffaloes path to a fourth straight title is fraught with peril as the Hawks gather their forces for a renewed push for the PL crown.
People walk past the booth of an AI chip company at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024
SoftBank, Nvidia and Microsoft team up to use AI in mobile base stations
The alliance aims to work together in preventing communications congestion and promoting the use of smartphone apps using generative AI.
When SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son bought Arm in 2016 for $32 billion, he had grand plans for the company to dominate the nascent market for connected devices, also known as the Internet of Things.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 21, 2024
Softbank’s Arm is not the AI play most people think it is
Today, GPUs are the gold standard for AI development and thus the equivalent of toilet paper during the pandemic.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the SoftBank World event in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 17, 2024
Masayoshi Son aims to launch a $100 billion AI chip venture
The SoftBank Group founder is looking to create a chip venture to compete with Nvidia and supply semiconductors essential for AI.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group. One of SoftBank's primary objectives will be to harvest returns from its huge portfolio rather than priming unprofitable startups for growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024
SoftBank’s Vision Fund swaps splashy bets for ‘timid’ investing
As other tech investors have heaped money into new artificial intelligence firms, Vision Fund has stayed out of the fray.
Japan’s 2024 buzzword of the year urges a reevaluation of past norms
Sadao Abe, who played the role of a time-traveling Showa Era teacher transported to present day in a popular TV drama, receives the 2024 buzzword of the year award for the word "futehodo," the nickname of the series.
Princess Aiko, only child of emperor, turns 23
Princess Aiko on Nov. 22 ahead of her 23rd birthday on Sunday at the Imperial Palace
Ishiba questioned on political reform, social issues and the economy
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday.
Nearly 90% in Japan and China have negative views of other
Chinese people's sentiment toward Japan is believed to be impacted by their use of social media platforms such as Weibo and Douyin, as well as whether they have visited Japan.
Bear that attacked Akita supermarket employee captured
A brown bear in Hokkaido. In the city of Akita, a bear that attacked a supermarket employee over the weekend was captured in a box trap on Monday morning.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Europe eyes 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine as possible peace deal option
A serviceman with the Ukrainian Army's 24th mechanized brigade fires a machine gun during an exercise, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the country's Donetsk region on Friday.
Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?
Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service. 
Don’t worry, you can still use your Japan health insurance card — for now
A My Number card reader at a pediatric clinic in Tokyo. While the government will stop issuing new health insurance cards on Monday, most people will remain unaffected by the move in the short term as existing health insurance cards can still be used for another year.
The Geisha bean is the leading lady of Tokyo's coffee scene
Discovered in the 1930s, the Geisha coffee plant came to worldwide fame in the early 2000s and now represents some of the best coffee on the planet — Tokyo's top cafes included.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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