GREE and DeNA fighting to hire best students

Japanese IT companies are fiercely competing to employ talented college graduates by giving preference to student job seekers versed in software development.

Leading social game firm Gree decided to set a new quota for college students graduating in the spring of 2014 to secure workers specializing in application development for smart phones.

The company says those whose original applications are considered outstanding will be exempt from document screening and the initial interview.

Another social game firm, DeNA, also says it will start a new system in 2014 to give an advantage to students who have business experience, such as setting up a venture.

The company says the annual salary for workers recruited in this category will start at a minimum 73,000 dollars with no ceiling set. The regular salary is 61,000 dollars.

A DeNA official says the company needs young and talented employees as the IT industry is changing rapidly and faces fierce international competition.

Asian CEO gives its Bonus to Employees

Beijing – In a rare move Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing has decided to use a $3 million bonus he received for the company’s record-setting year to reward thousands of the company’s rank-and-file employees.

The 47-year-old gave around 10,000 employees worldwide bonus checks for their hard work, Lenovo spokesman Jeffrey Shafer said.

The computer company announced its fourth quarter earnings in May. According to a press release, net profit for the company rose 73 percent year over year. The brand’s global PC sales rose by 35 percent year over year.

The employees, who worked in different areas of the company  Efrom manufacturing to administration to other nonmanagement positions, each received around $300 as a part of Yuanqing’s generosity.

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Social gaming Giant GREE signs an alliance with Yahoo and DeNA rises!

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Top News! Exclusive from The Asia Career Times

Two good news for Social Gaming giants GREE and DeNA today.

First of all GREE signed a Business Alliance with Yahoo Japan. This alliance will allow GREE to use Yahoo leadership in Japan and promote its gaming platform. GREE will also promote Yahoo wallet and create additional synergies. Yahoo Japan is also backed by Softbank, the most dynamic mobile phone carrier in Japan.

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Zynga story in Asia is soon over, GREE and DeNA said to be winners

Possibly trying to hide the grim news by announcing it during Apple’s event Zynga has shut down its Japan office and laid off 50 employees on top of closing its Boston office and laying off employees in Austin and the U.K., including cuts to The Ville and Bingo teams.

Zynga had been bleeding talent since a few months due to disappointing financial results following the disastrous acquisition of OMG POP but also the Facebook valuation effect. The question remains if Zynga will have enough cash to pursue its turnaround as its stocks are falling at Wall Street.

Asian gaming social networks such as GREE, DeNA or Hangame can see here a victory with their mobile strategy.

Beaten by Naver and Google, Yahoo South Korea story is now over (200 employees)

A few hours ago Yahoo Inc. said it will close its South Korean web portal and an Internet advertising business, cutting its losses in a market where it has struggled for over a decade.

Yahoo’s South Korea unit said Friday its Seoul office with over 200 employees will be shut by the end of this year. The decision comes after former Google executive Marissa Mayer took the helm at the struggling U.S. Internet company in July.

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GREE expands into Canada

Tokyo – GREE, a leader in developing mobile social games and platforms, today announced plans to establish a new game development studio in Vancouver, Canada. The company with more than 230 million users is targeting a 1 billion users community worldwide. Read More

IBM to improve skills and job needs matching wordlwide

1,067 schools worldwide are recognizing the vast number of job opportunities available in enterprise computing and the importance of teaching students key systems technology like the IBM System z mainframe. This milestone comes as today’s data-intensive world spurs increased demand for skills around breakthrough technologies enabling smarter computing. Read More

IBM pursues its expansion in India with 3 new offices

DEHRADUN, GUWAHATI and RAIPUR, India – IBM today announced the opening of three regional offices in India as part of the company’s on-going geographic expansion in the country. The new offices in Dehradun (North India), Guwahati (Eastern India) and Raipur (Central India) provide IBM with a footprint of 18 branch offices across India to date.

IBM is currently focused on increasing its presence in smaller, rapidly developing Indian cities as part of its plan to establish a presence in 40 Indian cities by 2013. By extending its network of regional branches, IBM is strengthening its ability to deliver more advanced technologies and services to its clients and partners across the country. IBM is experiencing particular demand for information management, security, cloud computing and business analytics solutions as businesses and government organizations in these regions turn to IT to reduce costs and gain competitive advantage.

As a key part of its growth strategy, IBM is investing in the Indian education system with a number of partnerships and academic initiatives especially to support the growth of open source technologies. For example, IBM is partnering with theIndian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Guwahati to foster innovation and promote local technology talent.

“We recognise the role of technology and innovation in driving economic and societal development,” said Dr Gautam Baruah, Director IIT Guwahati, who inaugurated IBM’s Guwahati branch office. “The Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati is committed to developing a next generation of business and technology skills which are in line with today’s business requirements. IBM has been closely working with IIT and other universities across the country to improve and evolve IT skills based on open standards and we look forward to increasing our partnership especially in emerging fields such as cloud computing and business analytics.”

Small and medium enterprises have long been the engines driving economic growth across India and play a key role in regional development. IBM is committed to the success of this segment and is working its business partners to provide small and medium enterprises with the tools they need to compete in a global economy.

“These are dynamic times for Indian regional development and there is tremendous market potential in these cities that we are expanding into,” said Nipun Mehrotra, Vice President, General Business, Geographic Expansion, IBM India/South Asia. “We are seeing increasing demand for advanced technologies as business and government leaders transform the way they work and look for ways to gain competitive advantage.”

IBM has a number of existing clients in Dehradun, Guwahati and Raipur where it is focused on banking, education, government, energy, manufacturing, industry and IT services sectors.  Some of IBM’s clients in these regions include metals companies Vandana Global and Jindal Steel in Raipur as well as Kurmanchal Bank and Uttarakhand Power Corporation in Dehradun. Key to India’s regional development is the cooperative bank segment where IBM is working a number of leading players across the country such as Nawanagar Cooperative Bank, Latur Cooperative Bank and Karad Cooperative Bank.

Under the strong yen pressure, Japanese companies merge their businesses

TOKYO – Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (“INCJ E, Hitachi, Ltd. (“Hitachi E, Sony Corporation (“Sony E and Toshiba Corporation (“Toshiba E announced today that they have signed definitive agreements to integrate their small- and medium-sized display businesses in a new company to be established and operated by INCJ, which is planned to be named Japan Display Inc. (“Japan Display E.

Pursuant to the definitive agreements, all of the issued shares of certain subsidiaries of Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba engaged in the small- and medium-sized display business (i.e., Hitachi Displays, Ltd., Sony Mobile Display Corporation and one other Sony subsidiary*, and Toshiba Mobile Display Co., Ltd., collectively referred to as the “Subject Subsidiaries E and other assets are planned to be transferred to Japan Display, in which each of the four companies INCJ, Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi will invest. INCJ, as a public-private partnership that provides financial, technological and management support for next-generation businesses, will invest a total of 200 billion yen in Japan Display in exchange for shares to be newly issued to INCJ by Japan Display as a third-party allotment.

Japan Display is expected to utilize the world’s best high value-added technologies of the Subject Subsidiaries and establish new production lines by utilizing funds provided by INCJ, in order to meet the market demand for high value-added products. In addition, through efficient use of the existing production capabilities of the Subject Subsidiaries, Japan Display aims to improve its cost competitiveness to solidify its position as a global leading company in the small- and medium-sized display market. The business is scheduled to begin operations in Spring of 2012, subject to the receipt of any necessary government approvals.

Rakuten buys Canadian company Kobo

TOKYO and TORONTO – Rakuten, Inc. and Kobo Inc. today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Rakuten intends to acquire 100% of total issued and outstanding shares of Kobo for US$315 million in cash.

Kobo was founded by and spun out of Indigo, the largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer in Canada, in December, 2009. Since that time, Kobo has become a fierce competitor in the eBook marketplace, with a family of innovative eReaders, a wide range of eReading apps, one of the largest eBook catalogues, an innovative social platform and retail partners around the globe.

The acquisition marks a major step forward for Rakuten, one of the world’s top 3 e-commerce companies by revenue, as it continues to expand its unique B2B2C borderless e-commerce business globally, by adding an ecosystem to provide downloadable media products to consumers, starting with eBooks.

Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, commented on the acquisition, “We are very excited about this next step. Kobo provides one of the world’s most communal eBook reading experiences with its innovative integration of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter; while Rakuten offers Kobo unparalleled opportunities to extend its reach through some of the world’s largest regional e-commerce companies, including Buy.com in the US, Tradoria in Germany, Rakuten Brazil, Rakuten Taiwan, Lekutian in China, TARAD in Thailand, and Rakuten Belanja Online in Indonesia, and of course, Rakuten Ichiba in Japan. E/p>

“From a business and cultural perspective this is a perfect match, Ecommented Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis. “We share a common vision of creating a content experience that is both global and social. Rakuten is already one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, while Kobo is the most social eBook service on the market and one of the world’s largest eBook stores with over 2.5 million titles. This transaction will greatly strengthen our position in our current markets and allow us to diversify quickly into other countries and e-commerce categories. E/p>

Upon closing the acquisition, Kobo will continue to maintain its headquarters, management team and employees based in Toronto, Ontario.

The global eBook market is one of the fastest growing segments of the consumer technology industry, with a compound annual growth rate of 36% through 2015*. The global content market size is also expected to grow dramatically to reach approximately US$10.6 billion per year by 2015 (estimates exclude China).