|
 |  | |
|
 |
about Asia Buzz | more Asia Buzz
Asia
Buzz:
Trading Blows
Japan
giants say size really does matter
By
ERIC ELLIS
March
14, 2000
Web posted at 5 p.m. Hong Kong time, 4 a.m. EST
We've had the Tequila Crisis, the Asian Contagion, the Samba Effect--so
what's this bout of illness emanating from Japan all about? So far
it's been pretty unedifying stuff; a whispering campaign against Hikari
Tsushin that suggests its chairman has been arrested, a spat between
Hikari and Japan's other great Internet investor Softbank burst out
into open near-warfare. When it's all stripped back, it seems pretty
petty.
| |
ASIA BUZZ
|
|
Asia
Buzz: Taiwan Tactics
China votes with its (two left) feet
-
Monday, March 13, 2000
Letter
from Japan: Flashback
Doomsday cult still a powerful force in soul-searching
Japan
-
Friday, March 10, 2000
Asia
Buzz: Whiz Kid
The future of the Internet in Indonesia is in good hands
-
Thursday, March 9, 2000
Asia
Buzz: Novel Idea
You can tell a lot about a country by what's on the
cover of its books
-
Wednesday, March 8, 2000
Asia
Buzz: Internet Oscars
Asia's online crème de la crème
-
Tuesday, March 7, 2000
|
|
|
ALSO IN TIME
|
Market Q&A
Each business evening with analysts around the region
|
|
ASIAWEEK
| |
|
The Softbank crowd quite like the idea that their man Masayoshi Son
is challenging Bill Gates as the world's richest man, and don't appreciate
the publicity that Hikari and its president Yasumitsu Shigeta, who
sits on the Softbank board, is getting as Japan's Net pioneers. Softbank
reckons Hikari is a copycat. Softbank has also been hit by an uncomplimentary
report from Salomon Smith Barney.
| INTERACTIVE | |
Ticked off at Asia Buzz? Turned on? Talk back to TIME
| |
At their peak, Softbank and Hikari Tsushin were among Japan's top
10 companies by capitalization, dwarfing old economy giants such as
Honda and Matsushita. The Net effect? Its ask-only on the Tokyo bourse,
and investors have savaged 50-60% off the share prices of both companies,
leading to a case of the Net jitters around the world and particularly
in Asia.
This is important stuff and goes way beyond the "size-is-important"
argument that Softbank and Hikari seemed to be consumed by at the
moment. As the Net evolves around the region from a stock market plaything
to something of real use to Asian business, Hikari and Softbank are
doing what so many Japanese companies have done over the past 50 years
since Japan's post-war reconstruction. They are helping build the
region's infrastructure and business communities. You don't have to
look far in Asia to see evidence of Japan Inc.
The same countries occupied and often brutalized by the Imperial Army
during World War II became willing recipients of Japanese aid and
investment: I'm thinking here of China, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore
in particular. Hikari and Softbank have been busy spreading their
Net message across the region. Both companies have invested heavily
in Net start-ups in Hong Kong, China and Singapore.
Only this week, Softbank announced it was teaming up with a big Filipino
company to develop the sector across the underdeveloped archipelago
there. That should continue but it can't with the same vigor if these
two giants are sniping at each other. The currency that enables their
joint ventures, their highly priced shares, is being denuded by the
day as the decibels rise in a very un-Japanese display of rancor.
There is of course a silver lining and that is that some of the heat
and frothiness of the Asian Net scene has been removed. Investors
across the region are taking the Softbank and Hikari decline as an
excuse to take profits from their overvalued Net plays. In this crazy
market, that's no bad thing.
Ticked
off at Asia Buzz? Turned on? Talk back to TIME
Write
to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com
Search
for recent Asia
Buzz
TIME Asia home
| | LATEST HEADLINES: |
Click Here for the latest regional analysis from TIME Asia
|
|
|
