Tag - corporate-governance

 
 

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Tesla CEO Elon Musk
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2024
Musk's warning about Tesla stake raises governance questions
CEOs and directors are prohibited from taking any business opportunity for themselves that belongs to the firm.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2024
Collapsed cakes and the price of perfection in Japan
As its labor crunch worsens, Japan might see more cases of skimping or slipshod quality.
Some 40% of the 1,656 companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime section have publicly disclosed plans, while another 9% are considering such measures.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2024
Some 40% of firms on top Tokyo bourse disclose capital plans
The list of firms with plans to improve capital efficiency did not include some of Japan's most influential companies such as Toyota Motor and SoftBank Group.
Daihatsu Motor President Soichiro Okudaira speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 20. 
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2023
Daihatsu scandal is a warning for Japan Inc.
Investigations indicate that improprieties at Daihatsu stretch as far back as 1989, indicating a profound problem with the company’s culture.
The Tokio Marine & Nichido Building in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 26, 2023
Japan penalizes biggest property insurers for price fixing
The Financial Services Agency has issued business improvement orders on the core units of Tokio Marine, MS&AD Insurance and Sompo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2023
Daihatsu offices raided after scandal halts all car shipments
The raid followed revelations that the carmaker and supplier had manipulated the results of various collision safety tests dating as far back as 1989.
Daihatsu said Wednesday that it will suspend shipments of all vehicle models made in Japan and abroad due to an unfolding scandal over misconduct in its crash tests.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023
Toyota's Daihatsu to halt shipments as safety scandal widens
The results of an investigation suggest the scope of safety concerns, first disclosed in April, is now far greater than previously thought.
In Toshiba, JIP takes on a sprawling company far bigger and more complex than any it acquired before.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Dec 19, 2023
In buying Toshiba, JIP takes on corporate Japan's toughest job
While the fund has quietly built up a track record by carving out businesses from big manufacturers, Toshiba is more complex than any it acquired before.
Koo Yeon-kyung, the eldest daughter of LG's former chairperson Koo Bon-moo, at her home in Seoul on Oct. 3. The death of Koo Bon-moo in 2018 without a will sparked a power struggle within the Koo family and LG over the inheritance of his estimated $1.5 billion fortune — including his 11% stake in the company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2023
Family split at LG tests corporate succession in South Korea
Wife and daughters of late chairman accuse adopted son and other executives of deception to steal their inheritance to bolster his claim to the company.
An office of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance in Tokyo in 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2023
FTC inspects nonlife insurers over alleged joint contract cartel
The on-site probes follow reports the firms prearranged premiums for joint insurance contracts with corporate and public entities.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange. The volume of management buyouts in Japan has increased to the highest on record this year, jumping 170% from a year earlier to at least ¥870 billion.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2023
Surge in management buyouts gives extra boost to Japanese stocks
The volume of management buyouts has increased to the highest on record this year.
Kei Umeda, CEO of Mizuho Trust & Banking, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Nov. 27.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2023
Mizuho sees firms scrambling to meet TSE's capital efficiency call
In January the Tokyo bourse will start publishing a list of companies that have disclosed action plans in line with its call to improve use of capital.
A representative for Morgan Stanley, which in August said it was 70% of the way toward reaching the $1 trillion in sustainable financing it’s told investors it will achieve by 2030, declined to comment beyond referring to the bank’s latest ESG report.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
What banks really mean when they put trillions into ESG
With each bank announcing a different target, investors are left with little insight into the ways in which banks are defining what’s sustainable.
Buyouts by management and controlling parties have surged this year in Japan, with the total value now set to pass ¥1 trillion.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 3, 2023
Being a listed company in Japan is losing its luster
Japan's corporate landscape is shifting as companies opt for management buyouts.
People walk past the booth of fashion retailer Shein during the first China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 29, 2023
Shein’s IPO plan to fuel scrutiny over cotton and China roots
In addition to fighting skeptics, Shein is also locked in a battle with rival Temu
Shareholders arrive to attend Toshiba's extraordinary shareholders meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2023
Toshiba shareholders approve plan to go private next month
The decision will allow a consortium led by JIP to buy all of Toshiba's remaining shares, marking the end of its decadeslong history as a public firm.
By Monday, OpenAI's board were overseeing a company in name only, with virtually the whole staff committed to a pledge of seeing them go or quitting the firm for fired former CEO Sam Altman's project at Microsoft.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Nov 21, 2023
AI doomsayers blamed in OpenAI's undoing
Harsh critics see a deeply troubled startup that fell victim to the pearl-clutching of an incompetent board that was divorced from reality.
OpenAI said it fired chairman Sam Altman after it concluded that he was not candid with the company's board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2023
Profit, not progress, animates the tech world
Reliable sources said Altman's firing came amid difference in views about the speed at which OpenAI should push its artificial intelligence.
Sam Altman participates in an event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders week in San Francisco on Nov. 16.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 20, 2023
OpenAI appoints ex-Twitch boss as CEO, while Altman joins Microsoft
The decision not to reinstate Altman as CEO has confounded efforts by investors and employees of the firm to steady the ship by bringing him back.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2023
Listed firms in Japan work on fostering female managers
An increasing number of publicly traded Japanese companies are actively fostering female managers to assume leadership roles in the future.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.