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Rakuten to acquire Ebates for USD 1 billion

Wednesday 10 September 2014 13:24 CET | News

Rakuten, a global ecommerce company, has confirmed the near future purchase of the internet discounter company Ebates for USD 1 billion (GBP 620.23 million).

Nevertheless, the company’s shares have fallen 5.4% since the company announced its acquisition plans.

Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakutens chief executive, has informed that the purchase offers the company access to Ebates US customers. The US company operates websites handling rebates and coupons issued by retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.

Japan accounts for around 90% of Rakuten’s revenues, but growth prospects are constrained by a shrinking population and weak consumer spending.

Rakuten already offers online services such as financing, travel, shopping and online video. It has also announced it would set up a Japanese low-cost carrier with Malaysian budget carrier Air Asia.

Recent acquisitions have included messaging application Viber for USD 900 million and Canadian e-book reader Kobo for USD 315 million.


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Keywords: Rakuten, Japan, ecommerce, online platform, Ebates, purchase, internet discounter, online sales, US, market, consumer
Categories: Payments & Commerce
Companies:
Countries: World
This article is part of category

Payments & Commerce