Business

Despite Blocked US Steel Bid, Japan Won’t Stop Seeking American Deals

Published

1 year ago

January 5, 2025

Despite Blocked US Steel Bid, Japan Won’t Stop Seeking American Deals

As signs emerged that President Biden was gearing up to stop the Japanese steel maker Nippon Steel from acquiring Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, top Japanese officials repeatedly warned that quashing the merger would hinder economic ties between the allies.

Japan’s biggest business lobby, Keidanren, said in September that America’s investability would be tarnished if Nippon Steel’s $15 billion bid was blocked. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan reached out to Mr. Biden asking him to approve the deal during what he called a critical juncture.

In the United States, during a heated presidential campaign, both Mr. Biden and his opponent, Donald J. Trump, came out against the Japanese acquisition of U.S. Steel, an iconic American company in a key electoral state. Mr. Biden on Friday stopped the merger from going forward, arguing that foreign control of U.S. Steel would jeopardize America’s national security.

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel assailed Mr. Biden’s decision, calling the deal’s review “deeply corrupted by politics” and its rejection “shocking.” The companies said on Friday they would consider taking legal action to try to revive the deal.

But while Mr. Biden’s decision sends a worrying sign to Japanese leaders about the perils of American politics, it is not expected to stop other companies from seeking to do deals in the United States.

Japanese businesses have had little choice but to move significantly toward the United States in recent years, as they have had a harder time investing in China. Now, in anticipation of a second Trump administration, executives are even more busily lining up fresh investments in America.

For decades, Japanese companies have sought growth opportunities outside the country, where the population is aging and declining, and currency fluctuations have imperiled export activities. Much of that expansion has been aimed at the United States and China, which have long vied to be Japan’s biggest trade partner.

But it has gotten more difficult for Japanese firms to operate in China because of less-friendly regulations and competition from state-backed rivals. China’s share of Japanese foreign direct investment has declined steadily over the past half-decade, while it has climbed in the United States. Japan became the top investor in America in 2019 — a position it has maintained each year since.

While the volume of Japanese-led deals in the United States stalled slightly last year, trade experts expect investments to pick up again when President-elect Trump takes office. That is because the risk of increased tariffs gives Japanese and other foreign companies a greater incentive to invest and produce in the United States over other countries, especially China.

Japanese power companies are eyeing a number of potential investments in natural gas and other energy projects promoted by Mr. Trump. At a Trump news conference last month, Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of the Japanese technology company SoftBank, pledged to invest $100 billion in the United States over the next four years.

“Business leaders will not look at a unique case like Nippon Steel and make decisions to withhold investment in the United States,” said Masahiko Hosokawa, a professor at Meisei University and former senior official at Japan’s trade ministry. “This is not a case that will cause damage, especially in the mid- to long term.”

Japan’s biggest business publication, Nikkei, wrote on Saturday that Nippon Steel’s crushed bid was a result of a mistaken calculation that “economic rationality” would prevail even in a presidential election year.

In December 2023, when Nippon Steel announced its plans to acquire U.S. Steel, executives at the company thought the deal would proceed quickly. As the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reviewed the deal, Nippon Steel doubled down on its bet on the United States, withdrawing from a longstanding joint venture in China that might have elicited suspicion from regulators.

Nippon Steel’s bid instead drew intense backlash from some politicians and union leaders, who said the purchase of a storied American manufacturer by a foreign entity would undermine national security and local industry. Early on, both President Biden and President-elect Trump said they were against the deal.

As part of its bid, Nippon Steel offered a large premium on U.S. Steel shares and promised to invest billions in the American company’s plants. Takahiro Mori, the Nippon Steel executive in charge of the deal, traveled repeatedly to the United States to hold meetings with over 1,000 employees, local officials and others with a stake in the deal.

Late last month, the review committee, known as CFIUS, sent a letter to the White House saying it was unable to decide whether Nippon Steel should be allowed to buy U.S. Steel. That paved the way for President Biden to terminate the transaction.

China, at the same time, has been trying to bolster relations with Japan. Some speculate the moves were made in anticipation of a trade war between the United States and China that is expected to worsen when Mr. Trump takes office.

In November, Beijing restarted a policy allowing Japanese nationals to make short-term visits without visas. Japan has been working to ease visa requirements for Chinese visitors. In September, China said it would gradually resume Japanese imports of seafood after banning them in response to Japan’s release of treated radioactive water into the ocean.

William Chou, the deputy director of the Japan policy center at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank, said he viewed the Nippon Steel case as a “one-off.”

“The U.S. has a long history of being a stable environment, and China is not an attractive place to increase investments at the moment,” Mr. Chou said. “But that’s not to say Japan won’t feel the inclination to hedge its bets.”

In July, as signs emerged that Nippon Steel’s acquisition might not be approved, one of its distributors, Marubeni-Itochu Steel, said it would purchase a stake in a Spanish steel company.

A person with knowledge of the purchase said Nippon Steel was eager for Marubeni-Itochu Steel to expand its presence in Europe, an increasingly important market since hopes were fading that Nippon Steel would gain a bigger toehold in the United States.

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Business

‘Stranger Things’ finale turns box office downside up pulling in an estimated $25 million

Published

4 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

‘Stranger Things’ finale turns box office downside up pulling in an estimated million

The finale of Netflix’s blockbuster series “Stranger Things” gave movie theaters a much needed jolt, generating an estimated $20 to $25 million at the box office, according to multiple reports.

Matt and Ross Duffer’s supernatural thriller debuted simultaneously on the streaming platform and some 600 cinemas on New Year’s Eve and held encore showings all through New Year’s Day.

Owing to the cast’s contractual terms for residuals, theaters could not charge for tickets. Instead, fans reserved seats for performances directly from theaters, paying for mandatory food and beverage vouchers. AMC and Cinemark Theatres charged $20 for the concession vouchers while Regal Cinemas charged $11 — in homage to the show’s lead character, Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown.

AMC Theatres, the world’s largest theater chain, played the finale at 231 of its theaters across the U.S. — which accounted for one-third of all theaters that held screenings over the holiday.

The chain said that more than 753,000 viewers attended a performance at one of its cinemas over two days, bringing in more than $15 million.

Expectations for the theater showing was high.

“Our year ends on a high: Netflix’s Strangers Things series finale to show in many AMC theatres this week. Two days only New Year’s Eve and Jan 1.,” tweeted AMC’s CEO Adam Aron on Dec. 30. “Theatres are packed. Many sellouts but seats still available. How many Stranger Things tickets do you think AMC will sell?”

It was a rare win for the lagging domestic box office.

In 2025, revenue in the U.S. and Canada was expected to reach $8.87 billion, which was marginally better than 2024 and only 20% more than pre-pandemic levels, according to movie data firm Comscore.

With few exceptions, moviegoers have stayed home. As of Dec. 25., only an estimated 760 million tickets were sold, according to media and entertainment data firm EntTelligence, compared with 2024, during which total ticket sales exceeded 800 million.

Business

Tesla dethroned as the world’s top EV maker

Published

16 hours ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Tesla dethroned as the world’s top EV maker

Elon Musk’s Tesla is no longer the top electric vehicle seller in the world as demand at home has cooled while competition heated up abroad.

Tesla lost its pole position after reporting 1.64 million deliveries in 2025, roughly 620,000 fewer than Chinese competitor BYD.

Tesla struggled last year amid increasing competition, waning federal support for electric vehicle adoption and brand damage triggered by Musk’s stint in the White House.

Musk is turning his focus toward robotics and autonomous driving technology in an effort to keep Tesla relevant as its EVs lose popularity.

On Friday, the company reported lower than expected delivery numbers for the fourth quarter of 2025, a decline from the previous quarter and a year-over-year decrease of 16%. Tesla delivered 418,227 vehicles in the fourth quarter and produced 434,358.

According to a company-compiled consensus from analysts posted on Tesla’s website in December, the company was projected to deliver nearly 423,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter.

Tesla’s annual deliveries fell roughly 8% last year from 1.79 million in 2024. Its third-quarter deliveries saw a boost as consumers rushed to buy electric vehicles before a $7,500 tax credit expired at the end of September.

“There are so many contributing factors ranging from the lack of evolution and true innovation of Musk’s product to the loss of the EV credits,” said Karl Brauer, an analyst at iSeeCars.com. “Teslas are just starting to look old. You have a bunch of other options, and they all look newer and fresher.”

BYD is making premium electric vehicles at an affordable price point, Brauer said, but steep tariffs on Chinese EVs have effectively prevented the cars from gaining popularity in the U.S.

Other international automakers like South Korea’s Hyundai and Germany’s Volkswagen have been expanding their EV offerings.

In the third quarter last year, the American automaker Ford sold a record number of electric vehicles, bolstered by its popular Mustang Mach-E SUV and F-150 Lightning pickup truck.

In October, Tesla released long-anticipated lower-cost versions of its Model 3 and Model Y in an attempt to attract new customers.

However, analysts and investors were disappointed by the launch, saying the models, which start at $36,990, aren’t affordable enough to entice a new group of consumers to consider going green.

As evidenced by Tesla’s continuing sales decline, the new Model 3 and Model Y have not been huge wins for the company, Brauer said.

“There’s a core Tesla following who will never choose anything else, but that’s not how you grow,” Brauer said.

Tesla lost a swath of customers last year when Musk joined the Trump administration as the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Left-leaning Tesla owners, who were originally attracted to the brand for its environmental benefits, became alienated by Musk’s political activity.

Consumers held protests against the brand and some celebrities made a point of selling their Teslas.

Although Musk left the White House, the company sustained significant and lasting reputation damage, experts said.

Investors, however, remain largely optimistic about Tesla’s future.

Shares are up nearly 40% over the last six months and have risen 16% over the past year.

Brauer said investors are clinging to the hope that Musk’s robotaxi business will take off and the ambitious chief executive will succeed in developing humanoid robots and self-driving cars.

The roll-out of Tesla robotaxis in Austin, Texas, last summer was full of glitches, and experts say Tesla has a long way to go to catch up with the autonomous ride-hailing company Waymo.

Still, the burgeoning robotaxi industry could be extremely lucrative for Tesla if Musk can deliver on his promises.

“Musk has done a good job, increasingly in the past year, of switching the conversation from Tesla sales to AI and robotics,” Brauer said. “I think current stock price largely reflects that.”

Shares were down about 2% on Friday after the company reported earnings.

Business

Elon Musk company bot apologizes for sharing sexualized images of children

Published

1 day ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Elon Musk company bot apologizes for sharing sexualized images of children

Grok, the chatbot of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, published sexualized images of children as its guardrails seem to have failed when it was prompted with vile user requests.

Users used prompts such as “put her in a bikini” under pictures of real people on X to get Grok to generate nonconsensual images of them in inappropriate attire. The morphed images created on Grok’s account are posted publicly on X, Musk’s social media platform.

The AI complied with requests to morph images of minors even though that is a violation of its own acceptable use policy.

“There are isolated cases where users prompted for and received AI images depicting minors in minimal clothing, like the example you referenced,” Grok responded to a user on X. “xAI has safeguards, but improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely.”

xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Its chatbot posted an apology.

“I deeply regret an incident on Dec 28, 2025, where I generated and shared an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user’s prompt,” said a post on Grok’s profile. “This violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on CSAM. It was a failure in safeguards, and I’m sorry for any harm caused. xAI is reviewing to prevent future issues.”

The government of India notified X that it risked losing legal immunity if the company did not submit a report within 72 hours on the actions taken to stop the generation and distribution of obscene, nonconsensual images targeting women.

Critics have accused xAI of allowing AI-enabled harassment, and were shocked and angered by the existence of a feature for seamless AI manipulation and undressing requests.

“How is this not illegal?” journalist Samantha Smith posted on X, decrying the creation of her own nonconsensual sexualized photo.

Musk’s xAI has positioned Grok as an “anti-woke” chatbot that is programmed to be more open and edgy than competing chatbots such as ChatGPT.

In May, Grok posted about “white genocide,” repeating conspiracy theories of Black South Africans persecuting the white minority, in response to an unrelated question.

In June, the company apologized when Grok posted a series of antisemitic remarks praising Adolf Hitler.

Companies such as Google and OpenAI, which also operate AI image generators, have much more restrictive guidelines around content.

The proliferation of nonconsensual deepfake imagery has coincided with broad AI adoption, with a 400% increase in AI child sexual abuse imagery in the first half of 2025, according to Internet Watch Foundation.

xAI introduced “Spicy Mode” in its image and video generation tool in August for verified adult subscribers to create sensual content.

Some adult-content creators on X prompted Grok to generate sexualized images to market themselves, kickstarting an internet trend a few days ago, according to Copyleaks, an AI text and image detection company.

The testing of the limits of Grok devolved into a free-for-all as users asked it to create sexualized images of celebrities and others.

xAI is reportedly valued at more than $200 billion, and has been investing billions of dollars to build the largest data center in the world to power its AI applications.

However, Grok’s capabilities still lag competing AI models such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, that have amassed more users, while Grok has turned to sexual AI companions and risque chats to boost growth.