Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Rakuten Group's number of member IDs 2014-2022: more than doubling from 64.59 million 2014 to 130.7 million in 2022

Published by C. Diep, Sep 13, 2022

In the second quarter of 2022, the number of member IDs registered at Rakuten amounted to almost 131 million. The most recent figure constitutes an increase of over five percent compared to the second quarter of the previous year. The Japanese e-commerce company is headquartered in Tokyo, where it was founded in 1997.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/223349/rakuten-members/  

Rakuten Ichiba is the largest online shopping mall in Japan - not Amazon

Rakuten Ichiba is the largest online shopping mall in Japan, with everything from food to figures offered by sellers each running their own storefront. It's a great place for comparison shopping and getting a good deal. You can also find store exclusives and local specialities!

https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/en/rakuten/  

ShopBack | ShopFest 2022 | Singapore’s Largest Shopping Festival – BYKidO

https://www.bykido.com/blogs/...singapore-s-largest-shopping-festival  

Rakuten Symphony aims to deploy 30,000 Open RAN edge units in Japan

By Juan Pedro Tomás September 28, 2022

Rakuten Symphony noted that the Symware device is based on the Intel Xeon D processor

Rakuten Symphony announced the general availability for its Symware Open RAN distributed edge product, along with its plans to deploy 30,000 units across Rakuten Mobile’s network in Japan.

The Japanese company noted that the rollout is targeting installation across 23,000 new sites in a 10-month period.

The firm also said that the Symware device is expected to deliver high cost-efficiency via a “zero data center footprint and elimination of associated rent overhead” in deployment in Rakuten Mobile’s network infrastructure. “Rakuten Mobile expects to reduce data center and associated operational costs by as much as half due to simplified data center installation and increased power efficiency,” the company noted in a release.

Tareq Amin, CEO of Rakuten Symphony, said in a statement: “The revolutionary hardware design supported by the software-based network and full Symworld operational platform will deliver transformational results for Rakuten Mobile and telecom operators around the world.”

The Symware device is sold as a service with the standard model comprising lifecycle management of hardware components.

https://www.rcrwireless.com/20220928/open_ran/...-symware-units-japan  

Bullish
Rakuten Inc
Watchlist

Rakuten: Two Consecutive Quarters of Narrowing Mobile Losses Could Change Price Momentum
By Oshadhi Kumarasiri

Rakuten’s Mobile losses have held back its share price over the last few years, but it is finally starting to show some improvements with costs shrinking sequentially in 2QFY22.

However, most investors seem to have overlooked this QoQ drop thinking that it is driven by the impact of seasonality.

With the loss of subscribers in the previous quarter seeming temporary, we are expecting revenue growth through ARPU expansion to more than offset Rakuten Inc (4755 JP) Mobile’s cost growth.

https://www.smartkarma.com/home/daily-briefs/...index-topix-and-more/
 

https://girls-award.com/  

Was wir bei Rakuten Mobile nicht genau wissen ist, welchen Anteil in den letzten Quartalen mit hohen Verlusten die nicht aktivierbaren  bzw. nicht aktivierten Softwarekosten gespielt haben. Denn sie minderten sofort den Gewinn, während die Kosten für Hardware nur mit den Abschreibungskosten eingeflossen sind.

„Im Fall der Eigenerstellung muss die Software für eine Ansatzfähigkeit identifizierbar sein, eine bestimmbare Nutzungsdauer aufweisen und darf nicht integraler Bestandteil des Unternehmens sein.“
https://d-nb.info/981716466/34

Insofern kann man m.E. nur auf die Aussage von Rakuten selber setzen, wann die Gewinnschwelle von Rakuten Mobile erreicht wird (was wegen der Börsenaufsicht nicht aus der Luft gegriffen werden kann) – Horrormeldungen von Außenstehenden nehme ich daher nicht ernst, da sie über die Höhe der nicht aktivierten Softwarekosten nicht informiert sind.

Aus den nachstehenden Aussagen lese ich allerdings heraus, dass die nicht aktivierten Softwarekosten, die damit sofort Aufwand wurden, eine wichtige Rolle gespielt haben.

“We have always been consistent that we will break-even in calendar year 2023,” said Amin. “If we really break even in 2023, I think this really addresses everything. Construction is a capex investment, and 2023 we will be pretty much done with our build.”
https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/...symphony-has-solved-du-problem

 

Japan’s Rakuten Travel is preparing for a return of international visitors
October 3, 2022

According to Phocuswright’s Japan Travel Market Report 2021-25 Japan’s tourism industry was a significant “growth engine” for the country’s economy before the pandemic, bringing in more than $108 billion in gross bookings in 2019.

The site now has content and promotions tailored to travelers from eleven countries, including several in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the United Kingdom and the United States, with payments available in each country’s currencies. The company says it will soon add content and currencies from more countries.

“Our goal is to connect our accommodation partners in Japan with a global audience and help them meet the specific travel needs of international customers, as well as enable international customers to access accommodation in Japan, including hotels, ryokans and vacation rental properties for a high-quality experience in Japan,” said Daisuke Nakahara, spokesperson for Rakuten Travel.

The company is also expanding its marketing in each country served by the new site, with promotional campaigns and “personalizing content to deeply engage customers from each country.”

“We expect to see a strong recovery and are ready to expand our marketing activities to capture the demand,” says Nakahara.

https://newstechok.com/...-a-return-of-international-visitors/191421/  

Temasek’s 65 Equity Partners Pours $80 Million Into ShopBack

Online shopping rewards app valued at close to $1 billion

Startup eyes going public though hasn’t decided on timing: CEO

By Olivia Poh

3. Oktober 2022

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...eadSource=uverify%2520wall  

October 03, 2022

When you look at cloud strategy, there is no perfect solution but many advocate a hybrid approach. Tareq Amin, CEO, Rakuten Symphony, discusses running on the global AWS infrastructure. Filmed at MWC Americas 2022 in Las Vegas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W40QMO9nzZg  

July 07, 2022

We recently held a virtual seminar on „Accelerating Digital Transformation and Networks“ that talked about the approach’s telcos are taking to digitally transform their internal functions, cultures, processes, services, networks and more.

Watch Peter Jarich and Tareq Amin have a chat on the following topics:

How the mobile industry is embracing digital transformation

The role of 5G in driving network digital transformation

Using O-RAN to unlock increased flexibility in mobile networks

Examples of digital transformation strategies from leading MNOs

Strategies for transforming traditional MNOs into digitally integrated service providers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQTs_KVSnnk  

Announcement Regarding Completion of Establishment of Rakuten Securities Holdings and Reorganization of Securities Business

October 3, 2022

Following the "Announcement Regarding Establishment of Rakuten Securities Holdings and Reorganization of Securities Business" dated August 10, 2022, and the “(Progress of Matters for Disclosure) Announcement Regarding Establishment of Rakuten Securities Holdings and Reorganization of Securities Business” dated September 9, 2022, the establishment of Rakuten Securities Holdings, Inc. and the reorganization of the securities business have been completed as planned.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/...2520ir%2520fintech  

Rakuten Mobile further expands switching area from partner line from October

On October 3, 2022, Rakuten Mobile announced that it will switch its partner line area in Japan to provide services over its own line in line with the expansion of its service area.

Starting in October 2022, Rakuten Mobile will switch from roaming services via partner lines to services via Rakuten lines in some areas of Japan’s 47 prefectures.

https://iphonewired.com/news/499610/
 

DealMaker Returns to Grand Stage for Rakuten Advertising

October 04, 2022

Rakuten Advertising's flagship DealMaker event was back with a bang in 2022 as it returned to an in-person format for the first time in over two years! With a tagline of "Doing business shouldn't be this much fun," lively gatherings in London and Austin, Texas, welcomed Rakuten Advertising's community of advertisers and publishers for a chance to connect, learn, deal, and party! We report on the two events and speak to the company's leaders in both regions for their takeaways and views on the latest industry trends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqg9a6fkFsM to Grand Stage for Rakuten Advertising
October 04, 2022

Rakuten Advertising's flagship DealMaker event was back with a bang in 2022 as it returned to an in-person format for the first time in over two years! With a tagline of "Doing business shouldn't be this much fun," lively gatherings in London and Austin, Texas, welcomed Rakuten Advertising's community of advertisers and publishers for a chance to connect, learn, deal, and party! We report on the two events and speak to the company's leaders in both regions for their takeaways and views on the latest industry trends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqg9a6fkFsM  

Rakuten Mobile turns a corner, but the road ahead is long

In addition, Rakuten says that from here, more customers pay for operator services.

All of these metrics matter: wider coverage improves the customer’s mobile service experience and reduces roaming costs. More paying customers means more revenue, and Rakuten expects that revenue to improve by leaps and bounds as it scraps the free service package it initially offered to attract early adopters to its 4G network.

This free offer is in the process of retraction and will be gone completely by the end of October.

As a result, Rakuten Mobile expects average revenue per user (ARPU) to improve by about 50% during the current quarter alone, which is a significant jump.

Since the free offer is no longer available to attract new signups, Rakuten Mobile now needs to demonstrate its ability to attract new paying customers every quarter, with Mikitani citing 12 million customers as a target (although no timeline for this target was mentioned) 15 million or 20 million during the presentation of his earnings. To help reach these goals, it is planning a major marketing push and will add additional services: Remember that the bigger picture for Rakuten is to build a market presence in multiple digital service segments and get customers from each segment using other Rakuten group services – the company is not just building Mobile phone business for being a mobile operator.

Symphony is expanding rapidly in an effort to attract business from other network operators around the world. So far, its only major commercial involvement outside of Japan is in Germany, where it is building and will operate 1&1’s Greenfield, 5G-based Open RAN.

But according to Mikitani, there is a lot of interest in what Symphony has to offer, which made a lot of noise during this year’s MWC event in Barcelona. He noted that Symphony has 13 customers (including Rakuten Mobile and 1&1) but has a “pipeline” of 115 interested companies. It has 3,500 employees and offices in eight countries: Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, India, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

https://chof360.com/...r-but-the-road-ahead-is-long-access-evolution/  

Announced Date

Headline

Deal Type

Acquirers / Investors / Surviving Entity



12 Sep 2022



Jeplan Secures USD17 Million in Series D Funding



Venture Financing



Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon PLC

Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.

The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co Ltd

Shizuoka Capital Co., Ltd

Rakuten Capital

MPower Partners Fund L.P

GOLDWIN PLAY EARTH FUND

Shizuoka Capital No.8 Investment Limited Partnership



01 Sep 2022



OneSignal Secures USD50 Million in Series C Venture Funding



Venture Financing



Andreessen Horowitz LLC

Balyasny Asset Management LP

HubSpot Inc

Coatue Management LLC

Rakuten Ventures

Zach Coelius

SignalFire Management Services, LLC

Y Combinator, Inc.

Yes VC

Upwork Global Inc

BAM Elevate

Nimble Partners


25 Aug 2022

Bejewel (VISUAL) Secures Additional USD6 Million in Series B Funding



Venture Financing



Softbank Ventures Korea Inc

Rakuten Ventures

CJ OnStyle

https://www.globaldata.com/company-profile/rakuten-inc/  

The "Global Alternative Online Payment Methods 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering

DUBLIN, Oct. 4, 2022

Companies Mentioned

Affirm

Afterpay

Alipay

Apple Pay

Au Pay

Clearpay

D pay

Dana

Google Pay

iDeal

Klarna

LINE pay

Mastercard

Merpay

Payconiq

Paypal

Paypay

PayU

Przelewy24

Quadpay

Rakuten Pay

Sezzle

Swish

Visa

Yucho Pay

zipPay

https://www.yahoo.com/now/...ve-online-payment-methods-153000580.html  

Rakuten's quarterly service cross-use ratio 2018-2022

Published by C. Diep, Sep 13, 2022

In the second quarter of 2022, the cross-use ratio of Rakuten Members reached 74.7 percent. Rakuten operates a variety of e-commerce, financial, and mobile services, which can be connected via the cross-platform feature "Rakuten ID".

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1240294/...rvice-cross-use-ratio/  

Mizuho in Talks to Buy 20% Stake in Rakuten Securities, Sources Say

Taiga Uranaka and Takako Taniguchi

Wed, October 5, 2022 at 11:35 AM

(Bloomberg) -- Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is in talks to acquire about a 20% stake in Rakuten Group Inc.’s securities arm through its brokerage unit, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The purchase price for the stake in Rakuten Securities Inc. could total about 80 billion yen ($554 million), the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The Nikkei newspaper reported the discussions earlier Wednesday, saying an agreement could come by the end of the week.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...o-talks-buy-20-stake-083517713.html  

"Rakuten Card Touch Payment" ist jetzt mit "Rakuten Pay" verfügbar

- Schnellere Zahlung ist jetzt auch im Ausland möglich -

Rakuten Payment Co., Ltd. ("Rakuten Payment") und Rakuten Card Co., Ltd. ("Rakuten Card") freuen sich bekannt zu geben, dass "Rakuten Card Touch Payment" ab heute, am 4. Oktober (Dienstag), auf "Rakuten Pay (App Payment") (im Folgenden als "Rakuten Pay" -App bezeichnet) verfügbar ist, die von Rakuten Payment betrieben wird.

Wenn Sie "Rakuten Card Touch Payment" in der App "Rakuten Pay" des mit der NFC-Funktion ausgestatteten Android-Zielterminals einstellen, können Sie eine Zahlung vornehmen, indem Sie Ihr Smartphone bei einem Händler hochhalten, der Touch-Zahlung unterstützt. Dies ist das erste Mal in Japan, dass Kreditkarten-Touch-Zahlung mit einer Smartphone-Anwendung mit einer Code-Zahlungsfunktion verwendet werden kann.

https://www.rakuten-card.co.jp/corporate/press_release/20221004/
 

https://www.rakuten-bank.co.jp/english/images/news-220513-01.pdf  

Mizuho eyes 20% stake in Rakuten Securities for ¥80 billion

Oct 6, 2022

Rakuten Group shares jumped the most in more than four months Thursday on news that Mizuho Financial Group is in talks to acquire a stake in the e-commerce giant’s securities unit.

Mizuho’s brokerage unit may buy a 20% stake in Rakuten Securities for about ¥80 billion ($554 million), people with knowledge of the matter said. An agreement could come by the end of the week, the Nikkei newspaper reported late Wednesday.

Shares of Rakuten jumped as much as 9.5% on Thursday morning in Tokyo, the biggest intraday gain since May 13, paring this year’s decline to 39%.

A stake purchase of the size and price reported could boost Rakuten Securities’ sum-of-the-parts value by 8% to about ¥4.2 trillion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts including Marvin Lo and Shin Tamura.

"Mizuho Securities is likely to be attracted by the growth in Rakuten’s online accounts (40%) and assets under management (54%), the highest pace of all Japanese brokers in fiscal 2022,” the BI analysts said.

Mizuho and Rakuten are in talks for various alliance opportunities, including investment in Rakuten Securities, but nothing has been decided, the bank said in a statement. Rakuten Group issued a similar statement.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/10/06/...o-rakuten-securities/  

A successful listing of Rakuten Bank and Rakuten Securities should strengthen the balance sheet and fund the growing capital needs of the mobile unit without incurring shareholder dilution. Another important step will be after my estimates the change of the operative cash flow to positive in Q3/2022 or Q4/2022.  

Rakuten - Sale of Stake in Securities Business Eases Funding Pressure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VyliLM2Ia4  

Digital Commerce Market Sales Channel and Region 2022-2029

October 4, 2022

Some of the leading manufacturers are listed out below :

Amazon.com
JD.com
Alibaba
eBay
Rakuten
Groupon

https://www.pressreleasesonline.net/technology/...d-region-2022-2029/