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Venus Feng
For Venus Feng's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Kelly Zong Fuli
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2024
China's ‘Princess of Wahaha’ to lead beverage empire fighting for relevance
Sales at Hangzhou Wahaha Group have fallen in an increasingly competitive market as the firm has proven slow to adapt to consumers’ changing tastes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2022
China’s property crash sends billionaire founders heading to exits
The nation's worsening credit crisis has led to defaults, failure to deliver homes on time and an unrelenting market selloff.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2022
Questions over effectiveness of COVID remedy costs top Chinese scientist $2 billion
Debate over the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine has intensified in recent weeks as the nation fights its worst outbreak since the early days of the pandemic.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 16, 2022
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son loses $25 billion in tech’s brutal winter
From China's tech crackdown to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a litany of troubles has beset Son and his conglomerate.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2021
Evergrande tycoon’s new banker is the ‘queen of shell companies’
China Evergrande Group billionaire Hui Ka Yan has turned to Pollyanna Chu, known for her connections to Hong Kong's tycoons, to help avert the collapse of his business empire.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2021
Ties strained for Evergrande founder as poker pal he relied on reduces stake
Whenever trouble struck, Hui Ka Yan could count on the deep pockets of a small group of property billionaires who regularly played card games together — but not this time.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2021
A $13 billion sneaker fortune started on a pig farm in Taiwan
Today, the founder of Huali Industrial Group is worth more than $13 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jul 12, 2021
China's crackdown on its ultrarich set to reshape its most profitable sectors
With an age of unfettered gains now coming to an abrupt end, investors are likely to be more cautious.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2021
Masayoshi Son’s billions multiply on SoftBank mega-rally and SPAC boom
Few fortunes are as volatile as Masayoshi Son’s.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2021
With Kuaishou, ex-Googler turns virtual gifts into a $61 billion business
The ByteDance Ltd. rival has become the biggest livestreaming platform for virtual gifts, with more paying monthly users than any other in the world.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2020
Jack Ma’s rival saw his wealth surge by $25 billion. Then he quit
Colin Huang, who has overseen the firm as its American depositary receipts have more than quadrupled in less than two years, has stepped down as chief executive officer.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 29, 2019
The complex fortune growing inside Bytedance, the world's most valuable startup
Software engineer Zhang Yiming started out producing apps for sharing jokes before focusing on news aggregation. That pivot proved lucrative.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2018
Asia's megarich took a $137 billion hit in the pocketbook in 2018
The world's fastest growing source of megawealth hit a speed bump this year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 21, 2018
Amazon helps Shenzhen entrepreneur turn mom's money into a billion dollars
After Steven Yang left his coveted job at Google, he asked his mother whether he should take venture capital money to fund his business idea.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2017
Once a bankrupt fishmonger, Hirotake Yano is now a ¥100 shop billionaire
Selling everyday items to bargain hunters has made the founder of Japan's biggest discount store a billionaire.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on