Rakuten is the official sponsor of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona as of 2021, and the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, as of 2022.
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45 Facts About Rakuten
2.
Rakuten, Inc has more than 70 services operating through the three segments: Internet Services, FinTech, and Mobile.
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4.
Rakuten had six employees and the website had 13 merchants.
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5.
In September 2004, Rakuten grew its financial services businesses by acquiring consumer finance company Aozora Card Co.
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7.
In 2005, Rakuten started expanding outside Japan, mainly through acquisitions and joint ventures.
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8.
In December 2005, Rakuten established the Rakuten Institute of Technology in Tokyo as its department in charge of research and development.
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10.
In September 2014, Rakuten bought Ebates for $1 billion to enter online shopping membership rewards in Canada, China, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.
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11.
In January 2015, Rakuten entered the sport of football by acquiring Vissel Kobe, a top J-League team formed in 1995.
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12.
In March 2015, Rakuten announced that it would begin accepting bitcoin across its global marketplaces, shortly after investing in San Francisco–based bitcoin payments-processing startup Bitnet Technologies.
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13.
Rakuten has been a strong supporter of bitcoin's potential, and was one of the first major companies to accept bitcoin for payment.
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15.
On November 16, 2016, Rakuten announced it had agreed to a four-year partnership with the La Liga football club FC Barcelona, one of the most successful football teams in Europe.
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16.
In February 2017, Ebates and Rakuten acquired Shopstyle and its influencer marketing group, Collective, to extend into fashion curation and discovery and product search.
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17.
Rakuten partnered with California-based Blackstorm Labs to launch an online social gaming platform called R Games in April 2017, going live with 15 free games optimized for smartphones, including Pac-Man and Space Invaders.
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18.
In September 2017, Rakuten signed a three-year, $60 million deal to become the official sponsor for the jersey patch on the front of the uniforms for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA.
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19.
Rakuten partnered with Walmart for a late push on e-books in January 2018.
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20.
In May 2018, Rakuten announced the fourth wireless mobile network of Japan, named Rakuten Mobile.
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21.
In June 2018 Ebates and Rakuten acquired Curbside to accelerate its online-to-offline offering to members and merchants.
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22.
In September 2020, Rakuten launched its wireless carrier service's 5G network in some areas in Japan after it has started 4G service in April.
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23.
Rakuten named its network technology the Rakuten Communications Platform which makes use of cloud computing to lower the price and started sales activity abroad, gaining at least fifteen international customers by the spring of 2021.
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24.
On September 24, 2020, Rakuten announced that they would shut down their online marketplace in Germany.
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25.
Rakuten later withdrew its bid and sold its shareholding back to Tokyo Broadcasting.
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26.
In 2010, Rakuten bought French online retailer PriceMinister for €200 million and US-based Buy.
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27.
In June 2011, Rakuten acquired Brazilian e-commerce firm Ikeda — since renamed Rakuten Brazil.
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28.
In September 2011, Rakuten took a minority equity stake in Russian online retailer Ozon.
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29.
Rakuten announced an agreement to buy Canadian e-book reader company Kobo from Indigo Books and Music, operated by Heather Reisman, in November, with the deal finalized in January 2012.
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30.
In November 2012, Rakuten bought French online retail delivery company Alpha Direct Services, to increase speed and quality of delivery.
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31.
On 10 October 2012, Rakuten acquired French electronic publishing company Aquafadas via its Kobo subsidiary to strengthen its position in rich media categories.
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32.
In May 2013, Rakuten acquired a majority share in "citizen commerce" site Daily Grommet, since rebranded as The Grommet.
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33.
In June 2013, Rakuten announced its acquisition of U S -based logistics and services company Webgistix, specializing in fulfillment technology for e-commerce retailers.
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34.
In November 2013, Rakuten led a US$800, 000 seed round of funding for Singapore-based consumer-to-consumer marketplace app Carousell.
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35.
On February 13, 2014, Rakuten announced the acquisition of Tel Aviv-based web messaging company Viber Media for $905 million, to link up messaging with e-commerce.
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36.
On May 29, 2014, Rakuten Marketing acquired DC Storm, a UK-based technology company which specializes in marketing attribution modeling and data-driven marketing.
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37.
In September 2014, it was revealed that Rakuten would acquire US rebate site operator Ebates Inc for approximately US$952 million to give the company more access to US consumers and help it grow abroad, as it takes on rivals such as Amazon.
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39.
In 2015, Rakuten relocated its corporate headquarters from Shinagawa to the Tamagawa neighbourhood of Setagaya-ku, to consolidate its Tokyo offices and to accommodate future growth.
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40.
Rakuten led a $500 million Series E round of funding in Middle Eastern transportation startup Careem, which closed out in June 2017.
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41.
Rakuten provides fire, automotive and accident insurance to consumer and corporate clients.
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42.
In June 2018, Rakuten purchased Palo Alto based retail pickup startup, Curbside Inc In October 2018, CafeX Communications announced that Rakuten Communications Corp.
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43.
In December 2019, Rakuten was reportedly selling OverDrive to private equity investment firm KKR.
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44.
OverDrive's purchase from Rakuten was engineered by KKR's Richard Sarnoff, a one-time executive at Random House who was president of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments until leaving for KKR in 2011.
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45.
In July 2017, Rakuten announced that it was banning ivory sales on its sites.
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