| Nikkei, Inc. | |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Native Name: | 株式会社日本経済新聞社 |
| Romanized Name: | Kabushiki gaisha Nihon Keizai Shinbun-sha |
| Type: | Employee-owned[1] (Kabushiki gaisha) |
| Industry: | Newspapers Finance |
| Foundation: | Japan |
| Location: | Ōtemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan |
is a Japanese media company which owns The Nikkei and the Financial Times. Its first publication was in 1876 with the publication of The Chugai Bukka Shimpo (Domestic and Foreign Prices News). In 1946, the company name was changed to Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, while the newspaper changed its title to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, both of which were later shortened to Nikkei.
Nikkei is an employee-owned company; Japanese law does not allow newspaper companies to be publicly traded.
In addition to the Japan-based The Nikkei newspaper (the world's largest business daily in terms of circulation), Nikkei, Inc. owns and publishes two international publications: the Nikkei Asia weekly newsmagazine and the London-headquartered Financial Times daily newspaper.[2] Furthermore, it is the owner of the TX Network, of which TV Tokyo is the flagship station.
Nikkei, Inc.'s current holdings include companies in books, magazines to digital media, database services, broadcasting, and other activities such as economic/cultural events.[3]
Nikkei Inc. through its main publication The Nikkei is said to have formed an "institutionalized" relationship with the national government through the so-called "press clubs",[4] where large national newspapers such as The Nikkei are given "privileged access to officials, whose perspectives they end up sharing." This symbiotic relationship between the government and national newspapers and broadcasters leads publications to "avoiding any actual confrontation with the administration".
According to reporters such as Shusuke Murai and Reiji Yoshida from The Japan Times, the Nikkei was "depending too much on leaks — apparently provided by corporate insiders" and that the paper was "often seen as reluctant to bluntly criticize Japanese firms."[5] The New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi said the Nikkeis purchase of the FT was "worrying", further stating that:
"[The] Nikkei is basically a PR machine for Japanese biz; it initially ignored the 2011 Olympus accounting scandal (which FT broke). Nikkei has also hardly covered the Takata airbag defect; almost no investigative work on that issue whatsoever. Nikkei is Japan Inc."[6]
Nikkei Inc. specializes in publishing financial, business and industry news. Its main news publications include:
Nikkei sells these newspapers around the world, in their original languages and in translation. It also makes many of its Japanese articles available in English through wire services, an English-language website, and a licensing agreement with LexisNexis.
In Japan the price of the newspaper morning edition is 160 yen. The afternoon edition is 70 yen and subscription is 4,509 yen/month (morning and afternoon edition).
Nikkei agreed on 23 July 2015 to buy the UK-based FT Group, which includes business daily Financial Times, for the equivalent of $1.32 billion from Pearson PLC.[10] [11]
On 30 November 2015, Nikkei completed acquisition of Financial Times from Pearson plc.[12]
Nikkei also owns TV Tokyo and Nikkei CNBC, which provides coverage of the Japanese market during trading hours and rebroadcasts CNBC during off-hours and weekends.
Major companies: