In the past year, COVID-19 decimated airlines, Beijing authorities halted Ant Group's expected $34.4 billion IPO, the Nikkei recovered its 1991 level, and China and the U.S. worked up their hostility toward Chinese tech companies. © Nikkei Asia photo illustration

The numbers of 2020, from grounded flights to soaring stocks

Our reporters recall the data that have illuminated the year of the pandemic

GRACE LI, Nikkei staff writer

December 25, 2020 06:11 JST

TOKYO -- In a week the world will finally say goodbye to a year of unprecedented disruption, in which the coronavirus pandemic has swept through every facet of Asian corporate life.

Hardly a company or business sector has been unaffected by COVID-19. For many, it has devastated sales, decimated customer numbers and almost overnight turned anticipated profits into steep losses.