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) $ 96,353.82 1.69%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,316.02 2.98%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.06%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 246.79 3.90%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 649.25 1.70%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.35 9.87%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.4129 5.08%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.27%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.978254 8.56%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,316.72 2.97%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.203397 5.37%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 39.69 5.67%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 5.98 4.61%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000025 4.61%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,920.25 3.88%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.472999 6.32%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 96,007.72 2.11%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.46 2.30%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 16.61 5.57%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 494.29 3.46%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,316.21 3.19%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.32 4.72%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 6.62%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.51 1.62%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.42 2.16%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 93.93 6.75%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 11.85 6.49%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.34 5.25%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,486.35 2.73%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.140274 8.99%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.28%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 10.68 7.63%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.18264 5.28%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.537589 5.54%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 27.71 7.03%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.08%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.43 5.24%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.47 5.91%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.149397 5.47%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 501.52 3.35%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.37 1.44%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.17%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.78 14.64%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.816072 3.35%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000045 8.75%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.67 1.41%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.41 1.82%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.27 0.15%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.039884 8.54%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 52.31 2.51%