Stock Market News

Sogo & Seibu sale to go ahead, triggering rare workers’ strike in Japan

2023.08.30 00:55


© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo of Seven & I Holdings is seen at its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

By Ritsuko Shimizu

TOKYO (Reuters) -Seven & i will sell department store unit Sogo & Seibu on Sept. 1, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, triggering a plan for a walk-out at a flagship store in what would be Japan’s first major strike in decades.

Japan-based Seven & i, operator of the world’s largest convenience store chain, agreed last year to sell loss-making Sogo & Seibu to U.S. fund Fortress Investment Group, but the deal has been delayed amid opposition from workers.

The union intends to carry out its threat for a strike at the flagship Seibu Ikebukuro store in Tokyo on Thursday, according to a union member.

Labour disputes are extremely rare in Japan, and strikes even more so. The last time workers walked out on a major department store was 61 years ago, and for less than a day, according to Japan’s biggest industrial union, UA Zensen.

A person with direct knowledge of Seven & i’s plan said its board would meet on Thursday to officially decide on the sale. The person asked not to be identified because the plan is not yet public.

Seven & I said nothing had been decided yet. Fortress said it had no immediate comment.

In its negotiations with management, Seibu & Sogo’s union had given Seven & i an Aug. 29 deadline to drop its plan to sell the company on Sept. 1, the union member said.

The union received no reply and would therefore carry out the strike on Thursday at the flagship store, where about 900 union members are employed, he said.

Sogo & Seibu said it would temporarily close the store on Thursday.

Fortress had initially planned to spend around 250 billion yen ($1.71 billion) on the acquisition but is likely to have lowered that price to about 220 billion yen, the source said.

($1 = 146.1900 yen)

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 76,278.44 1.12%
vested-xor
Vested XOR (VXOR) $ 3,405.08 99,999.99%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,924.90 4.73%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.13%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 200.09 6.23%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 606.43 1.42%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.14%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 0.557372 2.80%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.195367 2.65%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,926.35 4.95%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.417792 13.85%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.160909 0.54%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 4.97 3.16%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,465.39 6.53%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 27.93 1.75%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000019 0.17%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 76,262.43 1.14%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 2,925.56 4.75%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 12.79 3.89%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 382.67 0.27%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 2.34 1.52%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.20 1.71%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 6.26 0.64%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 1.12%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 72.58 1.25%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 8.92 4.89%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,074.77 4.72%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 4.34 1.69%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 9.85 2.10%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000011 7.68%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 515.76 3.22%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 7.89 1.02%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.43 0.82%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.25%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.10239 5.14%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 20.23 0.12%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 163.32 1.24%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.116019 4.16%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.14%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 19.71 2.10%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 182.32 0.45%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.348659 3.14%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 1.70 0.95%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.093039 7.31%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 2.47 1.83%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 40.55 2.32%
first-digital-usd
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 1.00 0.45%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.585983 4.36%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.79 1.29%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.662493 8.75%