Business
Ida Torres on Jun 19 2013
Softbank's bid to acquire US wireless provider
Sprint was boosted even more as its rival Dish Network declined to match their revised offer. If the deal is finally sealed, this will be the biggest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company in history and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son's dream to finally break into the US market.
National
Faith Aquino on Jun 19 2013
Embezzlement seems to be a favourite hobby of one Tokyo resident. Former
Microsoft Japan employee Yoshiyuki Ikutani was arrested after an internal investigation of the company's missing funds pointed right to Ikutani. However, it was not the first time Ikutani was charged of embezzlement. Police found out that the 48-year old man has committed the same deceit against
IBM Business Consulting Services. Microsoft Japan and the IBM consulting company were both drained of millions of yen.
The
stock market in Japan has entered some turbulence after capturing the world’s attention with the dramatic rise since last November. The mood in Japan until recently has been that of optimism and a sense of long-waited recovery from the twenty-year recession. Now, many in Japan began to voice their concerns and the beginning of the end. So how should we assess the situation?
The “Abenomics” is delivering positive results when, for the second straight month, assessment on Japan’s economy showed recovery and growth. The steady
economic growth was credited to increase in exports and industrial output, as reported on Thursday. The Bank of Japan has also seen the economy picking up and the bond markets going stable.
The scandal that is engulfing Japanese camera and medical instruments maker
Olympus has taken down 3 more businessmen on suspicion of receiving bribes in return for a massive cover-up of the company's losses. Japanese prosecutors have arrested Nobumasa Yokoo, 59, Taku Hada, 50, and Hisashi Ono, 51, on charges of violating the financial instruments transaction law, illegally receiving money from Olympus.
In a bid to block a rival offer from Dish Network, Japanese company
Softbank has increased its takeover bid for cellphone service provider
Sprint Nextel to 21.6 billion dollars. To sweeten the deal even more, Softbank will also shift 1.5 billion dollars meant for the company to their shareholders instead so existing investors can sell their shares for 7.65 dollars a piece, a 5% increase from the previous offer.
As Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe announced the third tranche of his economic strategy, the premier pledged on Wednesday to increase Japanese incomes by at least three percent annually over the next 10 years. Abe also revealed plans to set up special economic zones, with deregulated taxes, to attract foreign investments – including global companies who will bring in technology, people and funds, this being the next major step in his strategy to revitalize the world's third-largest
economy.
Following a survey by the
Asahi Shimbun, Japan's second-largest newspaper, the country's government revealed on Monday that as much as 1 billion US dollars of the public's money that was flagged for use in
recovery from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster was used on projects completely unrelated, and in unaffected areas. Everything from the counting of sea turtles on beaches to cheese & wine party promotions received portions of taxpayer funds that were earmarked for those in need in the Tohoku region.
Government sources are said to have revealed to Kyodo news that Japan's Environment Ministry is considering a lawsuit against Fukushima power plant utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. (
TEPCO) for roughly 16.5 billion yen (approx. 164.3 million US dollars) in unpaid nuclear decontamination expenses. The problem stems from a law that requires the central government to cover
decontamination expenses, both directly and via subsidies to local governments, and allows TEPCO to pay the sum back later.
While business circles are trying to make it smoother and easier for companies to let go of
employees (with full benefits of course) they feel lack initiative and drive and are not a good fit, it's having a reverse effect on employers. Those who want to fire certain workers but cannot bring themselves to do so are using "banishment rooms" to indirectly force them to resign on their own.
