NYTimes hires new Asia editor for biz news bureau – Talking Biz News

Pui-Wing and I have always thought so Dai Wakabayashi would make a great editor and for years we have been trying to convince him that we are right. So….

We are excited to announce that Dai Wakabayashi will be our new business editor for Asia, based in Seoul. In his new role, Dai will oversee our business, economic and technology coverage across the region, including China. Dai will report to Rich Barbieri, who moves from Seoul to London to become international business editor.

Dai moved to Seoul in 2022 with a broad mandate to write about business and economics in Asia. Previously, he was a tech reporter in our San Francisco bureau, covering Google. Before joining The Times in 2016, Dai worked at The Wall Street Journal, where he reported from the United States and Japan. In 2011, he reported on Japanese technology in Tokyo, when the country was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami. The following year he reported on the Fukushima disaster and won the Society of Publishers in Asia’s Journalist of the Year award for that work. Dai started his journalism career at Reuters, reporting from Tokyo, Seattle and Boston.

In Seoul, Dai focused on the Chinese economy, trade and other business topics. His tenure is notable for the scope of his work. He wrote about it last year The journey of South Korea to become a global beauty product power, the infinite Chinese power real estate crisisthe effect of tariffs on small companiesthe dramatic fight between two prominent Korean families over control of the world’s largest zinc producer, and why that is the case cat food may no longer come from Thailand.

Dais 2023 research of construction delays and corruption at a major airport in Nepal has resulted in a local investigation and charges against government officials and executives of a major state-owned construction company in China. And his 2018 research into Google’s $90 million exit package as a director accused of misconduct led to a backlash from employees and investors.

“Tech companies were often scared when they heard Dai was reporting on them because he was a fearless digger,” he says Chicken wing Tamour deputy Business Editor responsible for technical reporting. “He gradually became a mentor to many other reporters, sharing reporting techniques and advice.”

Join us in congratulating Dai.

– Ellen and Rijk