The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
WeChat owner Tencent Holdings’ investment in Japanese e-commerce and IT giant Rakuten, which saw Tencent become the latter’s majority shareholder with a 3.65 percent stake, is drawing scrutiny from both the Japanese and US governments due to fears that Beijing will gain access to users’ private information, The Japan Times reports.
Aside from e-commerce, Rakuten also runs a telecommunications business, named Rakuten Mobile. Japan’s foreign exchange and trade control law limits investments by foreign firms and investors in Japanese businesses in sensitive fields including telecommunications; the news exposes the limits of these rules.
Sources said that the Japanese government will conduct regular interviews with Rakuten and share results with the White House. Focal points will include Tencent’s involvement in the firm’s management and the latter’s control over customers’ personal data. Rakuten has since rejected claims that shareholders would be able to access customer data.
People of Indian and Pakistani heritage are critical to the UAE’s fashion sector, leading billion-dollar retail empires, trading textiles and jewellery and stitching garments for Middle Eastern brands.
Influencer Irene Kim and V&A curator Rosalie Kim join Chanel executive Yana Peel to chart South Korea’s rise to global creative juggernaut.
BoF sits down with Zainab Abdulrazzaq, founder of 3oud.com and organiser of the Oud Fashion Talks, to discover the next steps for the event, designed to cement Kuwait’s place on the international fashion map.
The World Economic Forum in Davos, a retail convention in New York and menswear shows in Paris will command the industry’s attention. Plus, what else to watch for this week.