| Traded as | TYO: 4755 |
Rakuten, Inc is a Japanese company chiefly focused on electronic commerce. It’s e-commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and one of the largest worldwide by sales. (It’s sometimes referred to as “The Japanese Amazon”.) Rakuten also operates Japan’s largest Internet bank and third-largest credit card company (by transaction value).
Founded back in 1997, Rakuten didn’t embarked on a course of rapid expansion abroad until 2005 when it kicked-off a series of high-profile acquisitions and joint ventures. Since then, it has become the owner of businesses such as Buy.com, Play.com, Wuaki.tv, Ebates, OverDrive, The Grommet, Slice, Viki, and PriceMinister. Rakuten also have substantial stakes in various e-businesses, such as Pinterest, Cabify, Carousell, Lyft and Ozon.ru.
Today, Rakuten have over 1 billion members globally for their e-commerce, digital content and communication services.
In April 2014, Rakuten announced that they would ban all online sales of whale and dolphin meat through their channels by the end of the month, after being named as the world’s largest online retailer of whale meat and elephant ivory. In July 2017, Rakuten proclaimed a ban on ivory sales.
Short facts about Rakuten
| Japanese name | 楽天株式会社 |
| Transcribed name | Rakuten Kabushiki-gaisha |
| English name | Rakuten, Inc. |
| Company type | Public K.K. |
| Traded as | TYO: 4755 |
| Industry | Internet |
| Key products | E-commerce |
| Area served | 29 countries and regions |
| Founded | 7th of February, 1997 (as MDM, Inc) |
| Founder | Hiroshi Mikitani |
| Headquarter | Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan |
| Number of employees | 14,826 (2017) |
Key services
- Online shopping
- e-reading
- Book distribution
- Video on demand
- Travel reservations
- Fashion
- Banking
- Credit card and payments
- Media
- Professional sports
- Marketing and data analysis
- Mobile messaging
Examples of recent acquisitions, investments and announcements
| When? | What? |
| March, 2018 | Rakuten announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency. |
| January, 2018 | Rakuten made its first foray into the general insurance market by purchasing Asahi Fire and Marine. |
| April, 2018 | Rakuten invested $2.4 million in Singapore-based MetroResidences. |
| June, 2017 | Rakuten led a $500 million Series E round of Funding in Careem, a round which closed out in June. |
| August, 2016 | Rakuten acquired the assets of bitcoin wallet startup Bitnet to create the research facility Rakuten Blockchain Lab in Northern Ireland. |
| April, 2016 | Rakuten participated in a round of financing for the investing app Acorns. |
| April, 2016 | Rakuten announced that it would invest 92 million USD in the Latin American ride-hailing service Cabify. (Rakuten had already invested 3 million USD in Cabify in 2015.) |
| March, 2015 | Rakuten led a 530 million USD round of venture financing for Lyft, paying 300 million USD for a 12% stake. |
| March, 2015 | Rakuten announced their acquisition of OverDrive Inc, a company for which they paid 410 million USD. |
| January, 2015 | Rakuten purchased the J-League football team Vissel Kobe. |
| September, 2014 | Rakuten announced that it would acquire Ebates Inc for approximately 952 million USD. |
| August, 2014 | Rakuten announced its purchase of Slice for an undisclosed sum. |
| May, 2014 | Rakuten Marketing acquired the British technology company DC Storm. |
| February, 2014 | Rakuten announced the acquisition of Viber Media for 905 million USD. |
Examples of businesses and subsidiaries
| Aquafadas | Rakuten Card Co., Ltd | Rakuten Research, Inc. |
| Alpha Direct Services | Rakuten Commerce | Rakuten Securities, Inc. |
| Crimson Football Club | Rakuten Communications Corp. | Rakuten Shashinkan, Inc. |
| Daily Grommet | Rakuten Coupon | Rakuten.com (formerly Buy.com) |
| Dot Commodity, Inc. | Rakuten Deutschland GmbH | Rakuten ShowTime, Inc. (Japan) |
| Ebates Inc. | Rakuten Edy, Inc. | Rakuten Sociobusiness |
| Fablic | Rakuten EMOBILE, Inc. | Rakuten Spain, SL |
| Fits.Me Holdings Limited | Rakuten Enterprise Inc. | Rakuten Travel, Inc. |
| Keiba Mall, Inc. | Rakuten Europe Bank S.A. | ReDucate |
| Kenko.com. Inc. | Rakuten India Enterprise Pvt.Ltd. | Shareee, Inc. |
| LinkShare Japan K.K. | Rakuten Insurance Planning Co., Ltd. | Signature Japan Co., Ltd. |
| Net’s Partners, Inc. | Rakuten Investment Management, Inc. | Slice Technologies, Inc. |
| O-net, Inc. | Rakuten Kobo Inc. | Spotlight |
| Priceminister S.A.S | Rakuten Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Taiwan Rakuten Ichiba, Inc. |
| PT.Rakuten-MNC | Rakuten LinkShare (formerly LinkShare Corporation) | TARAD Dot Com Co., Ltd. |
| Rakuten Auction Inc. | Rakuten Logistics, Inc. | TicketStar Inc. |
| Rakuten AIP | Rakuten Loyalty (formerly FreeCause) | Wuaki.tv |
| Rakuten Austria GmbH | Rakuten Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. | Viber |
| Rakuten Baseball, Inc. | Rakuten Marketing | Viki |
| Rakuten Bank, Ltd. | Rakuten Mart | Voyagin Co. Ltd. |
| Rakuten Brazil Internet Service Ltda. | Rakuten MediaForge, Inc. | Webgistix |
| Rakuten.co.uk (formerly Play.com) | Rakuten OverDrive | World Travel System |
This article was last updated on: March 12, 2025