Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Corporate Sep 25, 2013
Applied Materials to buy rival Tokyo Electron
Applied Materials Inc., the world’s largest supplier of chip-making equipment, has agreed to acquire Tokyo Electron Ltd., its closest rival, for $9.39 billion (¥926 billion) in stock, in the largest bid by a foreign corporation for a Japanese firm in six years. Gary Dickerson, ...
Corporate Aug 1, 2013
Son reshaping Softbank seen in $20 billion loan
by Emi Urabe
Softbank Corp.’s cost of refinancing debt from its purchase of Sprint Corp. will be less than half of what it paid seven years ago to acquire the Vodafone unit that launched its mobile phone operations. Now Japan’s third-largest mobile carrier, Softbank expects to pay ...
Business Jul 25, 2013
Firms on record M&A spree in Southeast Asia
by Hiroshi Hiyama
Japanese firms have spent record amounts scooping up assets in Southeast Asia this year, part of a trend that has seen Tokyo moving to boost its presence in the fast-growing region and away from China. As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed Thursday for a ...
Corporate Jul 5, 2013
Suntory Beverage wants to spend ¥500 billion on M&As: president
Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. plans to spend some ¥500 billion on mergers and acquisitions to expand its operations abroad, the president of the Suntory group’s soft drink unit, which listed its stock this week, said Friday. The company, which debuted Wednesday on the ...
Corporate Jun 22, 2013
Sprint part of Son's quest for the top
Billionaire Masayoshi Son told Softbank Corp. investors Friday how he plans to use the purchase of Sprint Nextel Corp. to transform Japan’s No. 3 mobile carrier into the world’s No. 1. At the company’s annual meeting, Son is working to convince shareholders his $21.6 ...
Business Feb 19, 2013
China hindering Japanese M&As
China is acting as a drag on a merger-and-acquisition spree by Japanese companies as relations deteriorate between the two countries amid the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands.