Rakuten is planning to tap into the travel and hospitality sector, apart from a potential enterprise in back-end solutions such as logistics, the same source mentions.
The company’s travel booking services has over 1.8 million room nights booked per month. It has access to more than 20,000 domestic and 15,000 international hotels and has a presence in South Korea and China.The company also launched its eBook reader Kobo in India in partnership with Crossword bookstores, WHSmith and Croma chain of electronic stores in 2013.
Rakuten reported revenues of USD 5.09 billion and net profit of USD 427 million for 2013, with more than half of the revenue coming from its Internet finance business. The company has 90 million users for its services in Japan and 60 million around the world, of which 18 million are users of the Canadian e-reader Kobo (which it acquired in 2012).
The company had reported revenues of USD 86.65 million from its travel business in Q4 2013 and USD 339 million annually. It had also reported an operating income of USD 34.72 million for the last quarter of 2013 and USD 127 million for the whole year.
Overall, Rakuten reported a 15.2% year-on-year increase in gross transaction value from the travels business in 2013.
In recent news, Rakuten has revealed plans to buy call and messaging app provider Viber Media for USD 900 million, GMA news online reports.
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