Original term for Japan's family-corporations before WWII, which are now known as 'keiretsu'. In the Sprawl world the term describes multinational corporations.

Prior to the end of World War II, the four big zaibatsu (Mitsui, Mitzubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda) collectively controlled almost 25 percent of the paid-up capital of all firms in Japan. The Anti-monopoly Law of 1947 was adopted to prevent a recurrence of zaibatsu-type combines. The act has since been relaxed, giving rise to corporate families, known as keiritsu.

Large family-owned conglomerates that controlled much of the economy of Japan prior to World War II.

a financial combine, that is a group of companies which do business in several industries (eg