Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
Look Out Amazon, Here Comes...Rakuten?
Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten announced on Tuesday it is acquiring Ebates for $1 billion.
The acquisition, which Rakuten hinted at last week, is part of the Japanese company’s push to grow its base beyond its domestic market and hopefully, become a global player. Having made some $1.2 billion acquisitions to date along these lines, this is Rakuten’s most ambitious move to date.
However, investors are dubious that the company can absorb yet another foreign acquisition, much less one the size of Ebates, despite Rakuten’s strong cash position.
Then there is the ever-present Amazon, which dominates the e-commerce market in the U.S. Few believe it will falter in the face of Chinese giant Alibaba, much less a Rakuten-Ebates combo.
Rakuten Goes Forth
Not surprisingly, Rakuten says it is undaunted. For starters, it has assembled a very interesting mix of acquisitions. There is messaging app Viber, which it purchased for $900 million in February, the Canadian ebook offering Kobo, Spanish video service Wuaki.tv, Viki, a digital content platform and Buy.com.
Now it has picked up Ebates.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikamorphy/2014/09/...ere-comes-rakuten/
https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...nitiatives-driving-ran-diversity
Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony Deploy Intelligent AI-powered RIC Platform in Rakuten’s 4G and 5G Open RAN Network in Japan, Setting the Stage for Sustainable Mobile Connectivity
- One of the world’s first nationwide deployments of a RIC platform in a commercial Open RAN network enables AI-driven network optimization, decision making, automation and network power consumption savings of around 20%
Tokyo, May 28, 2025 – Rakuten Mobile, Japan’s newest and most modern mobile network, and Rakuten Symphony, a subsidiary of global technology leader Rakuten Group, today announced the deployment of an in-house developed RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) platform in Rakuten’s 4G and 5G Open RAN mobile network in Japan.
The deployment, one of the world’s first nationwide RIC platforms in commercial use in an Open RAN mobile network, is expected to enable up to 20% reduction in network energy consumption and marks a significant step towards more sustainable and intelligent mobile networks of the future.
This pioneering deployment is the culmination of a Rakuten project initiated in 2023 with the aim of developing an Open RAN multi-vendor interoperability platform to reduce mobile network operational costs and improve mobile subscriber user experience. The deployment also validates the potential of RIC transforming traditional RAN into intelligent networks and offers mobile operators a path to new revenue streams through network programmability and increased vendor and developer diversity.
Prioritizing sustainability to achieve 20% power consumption efficiency
Mobile networks traditionally consume a significant amount of energy, with the Radio Access Network (RAN) accounting for around 80% of total power consumption, largely due to the demands of handling ever-increasing user traffic. To address this, Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony prioritized sustainability by developing a RIC platform that will be able to reduce network power consumption on its 4G and 5G Open RAN network by 15% to 20% in the future. Rakuten Mobile in-house developed rApps, powered by machine learning algorithm, analyze subscriber traffic patterns, predict demand and dynamically adjust base station utilization for optimal network efficiency.
Sharad Sriwastawa, Co-CEO of Rakuten Mobile, and President of Rakuten Symphony, commented, "From day one, Rakuten Mobile has been committed to building, deploying and operating an automated, cloud-native, intelligent and open network powered by software. This RIC deployment is a major milestone in our journey to build a fully automated, sustainable and intelligent mobile network. By leveraging AI and Open RAN, we are not only reducing our environmental footprint but also creating a more agile and cost-effective infrastructure that will enable us to deliver innovative services to our customers.”
Rakuten Mobile's success in reducing its energy consumption footprint is also a result of its participation in key research and development projects with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan, focusing on the development of advanced Open RAN technology for the Beyond 5G era, and edge cloud capabilities for next-generation communications.
Rakuten Mobile is also proactively developing specifications for energy-efficient base stations and optimized energy consumption as co-chair of the Sustainability Focus Group within the O-RAN ALLIANCE, a worldwide community promoting the development of Open RAN specifications.
Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony remain committed to driving innovation in network technology, with a focus on improving energy efficiency, reducing operational expenses and fostering environmental sustainability through reduced CO2 emissions.
https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/...20250528_01_lang_en
Rakuten Viki's estimated annual revenue is currently $104.8M per year.
Rakuten Viki's estimated revenue per employee is $162,500.
Rakuten Viki has 645 Employees.
Rakuten Viki grew their employee count by 13% last year.
https://growjo.com/company/Rakuten_Viki
Joint venture to manage inventory in potential boon for partnership
May 27, 2025 06:58 JST
TOKYO -- Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Group will partner with Japan Post to sell rice from the national government's emergency reserves as soon as early June.
Once Rakuten has a contract to buy stockpiled rice, the group will sell it through the Rakuten Ichiba online marketplace, with Japan Post among the companies handling delivery.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Food-Beverage/...ing-with-Japan-Post
Mar 07, 2025, 10:30 ET
Highly Anticipated Webcomic Adaptation to Debut in 2025, Comes as Rakuten Viki Reaches 100 Million Registered Users
SAN FRANCISCO, March 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Viki, the leading destination for Asian entertainment, has announced the latest addition to its lineup of original content: a new K-drama series titled My Girlfriend is The Man!, in partnership with Korean production company Studio N. Based on the popular webcomic with more than 379 million global views, the series will debut exclusively on Viki later this year. The co-production comes as Viki celebrates its rapidly growing global audience, recently reaching 100 million registered users.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...0later%2520this%2520year.
Rakuten Mobile and its vendor offspring Rakuten Symphony have deployed a RAN intelligent controller (RIC) platform to manage Rakuten Mobile’s 4G and 5G Open RAN infrastructure in Japan. The RIC has been in development by the Rakuten team since 2023 and its impending commercial deployment was highlighted during a presentation last November by the operator’s co-CEO, Sharad Sriwastawa, who is also president of Rakuten Symphony – see Rakuten Mobile turns to its RIC for energy-efficiency gains.
According to Rakuten Mobile, using the RIC “is expected to enable up to 20% reduction in network energy consumption and marks a significant step towards more sustainable and intelligent mobile networks of the future”. Those gains come from the use of specific RIC applications known as rApps (RAN apps) that “analyse subscriber traffic patterns, predict demand and dynamically adjust base station utilisation for optimal network efficiency,” noted the operator, which has about 8.6 million customers and recently achieved its first quarter of EBITDA profitability. Commenting on the RIC deployment, Sriwastawa stated: “From day one, Rakuten Mobile has been committed to building, deploying and operating an automated, cloud-native, intelligent and open network powered by software. This RIC deployment is a major milestone in our journey to build a fully automated, sustainable and intelligent mobile network. By leveraging AI and Open RAN, we are not only reducing our environmental footprint but also creating a more agile and cost-effective infrastructure that will enable us to deliver innovative services to our customers.” You can find out more about the potential of RIC platforms and their associated applications in TelecomTV’s free-to-download DSP Leaders Report, Open RAN: Advances in the RAN Intelligent Controller.
Sriwastawa noted in his comments that Rakuten Mobile has always been committed to building and operating a cloud-native network, but is it recognised as a cloud-native telco pioneer by its peers? You can find out by downloading our latest free-to-download industry research publication, The Cloud-Native Telco Market Perception Report.
https://www.telecomtv.com/content/...for%2520customers%2520in%2520the
https://www.stockopedia.com/share-prices/rakuten-TYO:4755/
Poster presentation to highlight the ongoing global Phase 3 ASP-1929-381 study at ASCO 2025
Global patient enrollment continues, with Taiwan now actively enrolling following the U.S., and Japan expected to follow as part of global study start-up
SAN DIEGO, May 22, 2025 Rakuten Medical, Inc., a global biotechnology company developing and commercializing Alluminox platform-based photoimmunotherapy, today announced that it will present a Trial in Progress poster at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which will take place May 30 – June 3, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...p-1929-381-302463811.html
22 May, 2025
Recent market projections underscore this momentum. The Open RAN market is expected to be worth between $3.98 billion and $6.53 billion this year according to recent industry reports, with forecasts pointing towards significant growth, possibly even reaching between $19.58 billion and $41.5 billion by the end of the decade! In terms of its share of the total RAN market, Open RAN currently accounts for about 5-10%, but that figure could grow to as much as 30% by 2028 according to Dell'Oro Group. These numbers highlight not only growing confidence in the technology, but also the need for telecom operators to adapt to an open, disaggregated model.
https://www.firstpointgroup.com/resources/blog/open-ran-market-update/
https://mobile-contract-guide.com/en/...rakuten-mobile-2024-survey-en
Cabify steigerte seinen Bruttogewinn im Jahr 2024 um 14,3 % auf 112 Millionen Euro, obwohl der Umsatz bei 760 Millionen Euro lag, 4,6 % weniger als vor einem Jahr, wie das Unternehmen selbst am Mittwoch in seinem Impact Report 2024 bekannt gab.
In Bezug auf diesen Umsatzrückgang hat das Mobilitätsunternehmen hervorgehoben, dass dies auf die Auswirkungen des Wechselkurses in Argentinien zurückzuführen ist und dass der Umsatz durch deren Isolierung auf dem Niveau des Vorjahres bleibt.
Auf der anderen Seite hat das Unternehmen seinen Bruttobetriebsgewinn (EBITDA) weltweit gesteigert, sich gegenüber den Daten für 2023 verbessert und "sein höchstes Rentabilitätsniveau" erreicht.
Was Cabify Logistics betrifft, so verzeichnete dieser Geschäftsbereich ein Umsatzwachstum von 54 %, obwohl er immer noch einen "kleineren Teil des Gesamtgeschäfts" darstellt.
Die Aussichten für dieses Jahr sind jedoch eine Steigerung des Wachstums, wofür das Unternehmen technologische Entwicklungen und Integrationen gefördert hat, die diesen Anstieg erleichtern werden.
https://www.elmundo.es/economia/empresas/2025/05/...a0375e8b456f.html
Publishers and brands alike will receive greater visibility into publisher value, elevated brand safety, stronger connections with creators, and AI-driven custom reporting
NEW YORK, May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Advertising, the leading global affiliate marketing network, revealed several new solutions helping advertisers and publishers navigate affiliate marketing industry challenges and demands. Announced at Rakuten Optimism 2025, these new solutions provide publishers with enhanced data transparency, help advertisers remain brand-safe and compliant, and bridge the gap between creator and affiliate marketing.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...nches-industry-first-130000355.html
2 days ago
Agentic AI – the concept of AI systems that can autonomously plan and execute tasks – is rapidly moving from research labs to real-world applications. At Rakuten Product Conference 2025, the panel “What’s Next in AI: The Agentic Revolution,” featuring Ting Cai, Rakuten Chief AI & Data Officer; Taku Okoshi, Executive Officer, Director of the AI Services Supervisory Department at Rakuten; and Caitlin Cai, Head of Product at the AI Lab, Rakuten Asia; along with Praful Chavda, Founder and CEO of Chisel, explored the practical implications of this emerging technology, focusing on the challenges and opportunities for businesses looking to leverage its potential.
Their collective vision for agentic AI aims not only to redefine product management but also to empower every employee and partner with a transformative digital toolkit.
A global leader in AI innovation
Rakuten Group’s long-standing strength lies in its ability to harness vast amounts of data and translate that into innovative products and services. At RPC 2025, this panel underscored how this data-driven approach continues to fuel breakthroughs in AI.
“AI is touching every aspect of our life,” remarked Ting Cai, emphasizing that advances in AI agents are already impacting daily routines — from assisting in searching for train schedules to revolutionizing the advertising industry. This shift, he believes, presents an immense strategic opportunity for Rakuten, and sets the stage for a deeper exploration into agentic AI. Ting further elaborated on this emerging trend, noting that agentic AI is evolving to autonomously perceive, reason, plan and act. He emphasized that these capabilities will not only streamline workflows but also empower individuals and startups alike, unlocking a new era of innovation within the Rakuten Ecosystem.
https://rakuten.today/blog/...r-a-new-era-of-innovation%ef%bf%bc.html
Tokyo, May 30, 2025 – Rakuten Bank, Ltd. today announced that it has surpassed 17 million customer accounts as of May 29, 2025.
Since it started as a digital bank in 2001, Rakuten Bank has been committed to providing swift and convenient services to individual, corporate and sole proprietor business customers. The number of Rakuten Bank accounts has now surpassed 17 million, less than one year since hitting 16 million accounts in July 2024. Rakuten Bank customers proactively use multiple services after opening their accounts, such as bank transfers, and using their accounts to receive salaries and bonuses. As a result, the use of Rakuten Bank as customers main account is steadily expanding.
Rakuten Bank aims to provide customers with greater convenience and value not only through the bank’s services but also by strengthening collaborations with other Rakuten Group services. In addition to offering the convenience of easy accessibility 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the handy Rakuten Bank app serves as a one-stop shop for almost all of the bank’s services.
Rakuten Bank provides even more benefits and convenient services for customers, including awarding Rakuten Points for making money transfers and using their account to receive their salary and bonuses, and the Happy Program, a loyalty program that waives ATM fees up to seven times per month and bank transfer fees up to three times per month by linking the customer’s Rakuten ID with their Rakuten Bank account. Other services include Money Bridge, which offers preferential interest rates on ordinary deposits when users link their Rakuten Bank account with their Rakuten Securities account, the Rakuten Pay App, which allows customers to directly debit their Rakuten Bank account, and a payment feature on the Rakuten Pay app that awards users with Rakuten Points for making purchases through their Rakuten Bank account.
Leveraging these strong synergies with the Rakuten Ecosystem, Rakuten Bank has continuously enhanced its services since surpassing 16 million accounts, such as expanding the number of organizations supporting direct debit payments. Additionally, starting in May 2024, Rakuten Bank began offering new digital experiences to a wide range of customers via smartphones and other platforms through JRE BANK, an internet banking service for JR East Group customers.
To address the growing need for solutions to fund retirement in Japan's aging society, Rakuten Bank launched lump-sum payment reverse mortgage services in January 2021. Building on this past success, the bank extended its offerings in May 2025 to include a flexible reverse mortgage plan, providing customers with greater choice and control over their finances.
These initiatives have been well-received by individual, corporate and sole proprietor business customers across a range of demographics, leading to the latest milestone of 17 million Rakuten Bank accounts. Going forward, Rakuten Bank will continue working to offer innovative and convenient products and services to customers.
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2025/0530_01.html
Telkom Kenya has secured a $4.4 million grant from Rakuten Symphony ($3 million) and Airspan Networks ($1.4 million) to advance the development and deployment of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology within the country. This strategic investment aims to enhance mobile connectivity, reduce infrastructure costs, and promote flexible network architectures across Kenya.
The adoption of Open RAN is gaining momentum in Africa due to its potential to provide cost-effective and innovative wireless communication solutions. By embracing this technology, Telkom Kenya aims to improve network performance, extend coverage to underserved regions, and accelerate the rollout of advanced mobile services.
https://techpoint.africa/news/telkom-kenya-secures-grant/
Rakuten Card is aiming to boost its annual profits to 100 billion yen by stepping into Japan's booming B2B payments market.
Rakuten's push into B2B payments could invigorate Japan's financial sector. By leveraging its expansive network, investors might witness growth in sectors linked to B2B transactions. This shift unveils Japan's economic potential in digital finance amid global uncertainties, offering new avenues for strategic investments.
Rakuten's move underscores a wider shift toward digitalization in Japan, promising economic efficiency and innovation. By partnering with Mizuho, Rakuten could spur broader adoption of digital payments, diminishing inefficiencies in traditional cash transactions. This transformation could reshape Japan's economic landscape, positioning it strongly in the global digital finance realm.
https://finimize.com/content/...ambitious-profit-goal-in-b2b-payments
May 29, 2025
Government stockpiled rice became available on the online shopping site Rakuten Ichiba on Thursday and sold out the very same day. Reservations are still being accepted.
The rice was procured by the site operator, Rakuten Group, Inc., through a so called discretionary contract.
Rakuten Ichiba is offering the rice for Yen 1,980 for 5 kilograms, excluding tax. The first shipments are scheduled to begin on June 7 at the earliest.
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20250529-256906/
The 3 most popular patent topics include:
wireless networking
radio resource management
telecommunications
https://www.cbinsights.com/company/rakuten-symphony
May 23, 2025
Rakuten Mobile’s “SAIKYO Summer Thanksgiving Festival” is a special campaign to show appreciation to its users. From June 3 to June 27, 2025, individual users can enjoy a variety of luxurious benefits. This article focuses on the details of these benefits and introduces the full appeal of Rakuten Mobile.
https://mobile-contract-guide.com/en/...bile-summer-kanshasai-2025-en
May 22, 2025
The cloud-native edge is here, but how do you make it work? This video dives into the successful partnership between Rakuten Cloud and Google Cloud, revealing how they're delivering game-changing results across industries! Hear exclusive insights from Rakuten Cloud's Raj Narayanan and Oni Chakravartti, along with Google's Vijay Tewari, as they discuss the keys to their success at Google Cloud Next 2025. Discover how edge computing is transforming manufacturing, retail, and more with low latency, real-time analysis, and localized decision-making. Plus, find out how AI is revolutionizing the retail customer experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjLOCgXy4hk
Rakuten & Odine: Transforming Telecoms in MEA with Cloud & OSS!
May 13, 2025
Discover how the Rakuten & Odin partnership revolutionizes telecoms in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (MEA) region! We tackle cloud adoption, OSS digitalization, and network innovation, empowering telecom operators to overcome key challenges. Rakuten's innovative solutions and Odin's system integration expertise combine to drive digital transformation. Learn about cloudifying networks in complex, multi-vendor environments and unlock the power of AI-driven automation. We explore real-world use cases that reduce OPEX and fuel growth. See how our partnership creates new opportunities and drives success in the EMEA telecom landscape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6J7SlIrXOg
May 29, 2025
CLSA analyst Oliver Matthew maintained a Buy rating on Rakuten (RKUNF – Research Report) today and set a price target of Yen1,101.00. The company’s shares closed yesterday at $5.51.
https://www.tipranks.com/news/blurbs/...y-from-clsa?mod=mw_quote_news
Case study: transforming connectivity with O-RAN DAS at Dortmund Stadium
A DAS solution leveraging Open RAN technology has transformed the fan experience at Dortmund's Signal Iduna stadium, home of Borussia Dortmund and its famous Yellow Wall of support.
SOLID, in partnership with 1&1 and Rakuten, is delivering a step change in the football experience at Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany the famous home of the mighty Borussia Dortmund and their ‘Yellow Wall’ of support. The solution leverages OpenRAN technology and mMIMO antennas to create a unique 4G and 5G environment at Germany’s largest football stadium. Fans at the 81,000 to 82,000 – capacity ground can now experience an outstanding mobile experience at every seat. This landmark project was successfully implemented ahead of the stadium’s 50th anniversary in 2024.
https://the-mobile-network.com/2025/05/...an-das-at-dortmund-stadium/