Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

- und daher habe ich mir nach dem Einstieg bei Alibaba, die inzwischem mehr als 20% gut gemacht haben, auch einige Rakutens gekauft.

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/  

Rakuten Maritime Receives Innovation Endorsement from ClassNK, a Japan-based Leader in Maritime Classification and Certification

Tokyo, April 3, 2025 – Rakuten Symphony today announced that, alongside its partner company CYTUR, it has obtained an Innovation Endorsement for Products & Solutions from ClassNK, a Japan-based leader in maritime certifications, for its maritime cybersecurity service Rakuten Maritime.

Launched in December 2024, Rakuten Maritime provides comprehensive cybersecurity solutions that safeguard vessels across their entire lifecycle. Rakuten Symphony partnered with CYTUR, a South Korean cybersecurity startup, to develop Rakuten Maritime.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2025/0403_01.html
 

7 March 2025

Raghunath Hariharan is CTO, Rakuten Symphony. In this revealing interview with TMN editor Keith Dyer he explains how the efforts to disaggregate mobile networks almost went too far, and describes the need for an intermediate approach that provides a level of pre-integration, while remaining open.
Rakuten Symphony itself has had to change, and has successfully migrated its Open RAN business to a licensing model, which will enable it to open up enterprise and private networks opportunities via its licensee partners.

https://the-mobile-network.com/2025/03/23287/
 

Rakuten Symphony and Nirmata Announce Successful Testing and Certification for Kyverno Policy Engine for Rakuten Cloud Solutions

TOKYO and SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Symphony, Inc. and Nirmata, Inc., today announced successful testing and certification for Kyverno, the policy engine designed for Kubernetes, on Rakuten Cloud-Native Platform and Rakuten Cloud-Native Storage. The integrated solution will allow Rakuten Cloud customers to leverage Kyverno to enforce security and policies in their Kubernetes® deployments.

"Rakuten Cloud offers ease-of-use automation with industry-leading features including data security and compliance enforcement in cloud-native environments," said Partha Seetala, President of Cloud Business Unit at Rakuten Symphony. "With Nirmata and Kyverno, Rakuten Cloud customers in sensitive and critical industries like health care and finance benefit from Kyverno's policy-as-a-code approach."

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...-solutions-302414494.html
 

von Trumps Zollerhöhungen betroffen.

Kursrückgänge beruhen also ausschließlich auf "Sippenhaft".  

April 3, 2025

Rakuten TV Top Movies and Rakuten TV Action will be available through Virgin Media’s TV guide and searchable via voice control.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2025/04/03/...kuten-tv-fast-channels/
 

von Rakuten-Aktien angesagt, da Rakuten kaum von US-Zöllen betroffen ist.  

Rakuten International leaders highlight innovation, power of global ecosystem at MWC 2025

April 04, 2025

Rakuten International CEO Amit Patel, Rakuten TV CEO & President Cédric Dufour and Rakuten Viber VP of Marketing Atanas Raykov took to the Rakuten Booth Theater stage at MWC Barcelona 2025 to outline how Rakuten International businesses are embracing cutting-edge tech and a consumer-first approach to grow the global Rakuten ecosystem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wkFJyPEcvk

 

AI Hits the Green with Rakuten GORA's AI Swing Analysis Tool

April 04, 2025

Rakuten GORA launched a new AI golf swing analysis tool on the Rakuten Golf Score Management App. This tool was developed in cooperation with computer vision experts from Rakuten Institute of Technology (RIT), Keio University's Aoki Media Sensing Lab, and Rakuten India. It allows users to upload a video of their golf swing, which is then analyzed in nine phases from address to finish. In just a few minutes, the multiple AI models will work together to return a thorough analysis of 43 checkpoints and a provide comprehensive score, like a golf instructor that is available anytime, anywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmT9QnFJ9Ps

 

Rakuten Advertising introduced Upsellit to the SHEIKE affiliate program as a way to drive scale and overcome cart abandonment challenges. The results have exceeded SHEIKE’s expectations. Upsellit is now a top-performing publisher on the SHEIKE affiliate program and continues to demonstrate the importance of tech solution partners through strong performance.

The results speak for themselves:

+15.78% of new customers

+15.95% of total sales

+$40 ROAS

https://rakutenadvertising.com/en-au/resources/...ng-sheike-upsellit/

 

Mikitani about Rakuten Mobile on the last Conference Call

“We have been working on the very challenging Rakuten Mobile project for some time now, and it has become clear that its contribution to the Rakuten ecosystem is significant in many ways. As you may have seen from today’s presentation, the entire group is growing, and the mobile factor plays a major role in this. I think that increasing the number of Rakuten Mobile users to 10 million or 20 million has proven to solidify our consumer-facing services. Additionally, taking on such a challenging project has made the entire group more robust. It has fostered a culture of focusing on operational efficiency and working capital, which has strengthened the group’s overall teamwork. Regarding the second question about achieving EBITDA profitability this year, we plan to continue what we have been doing while also increasing advertising revenue through Rakuten Mobile. We know that encouraging 5G usage will increase data ARPU, so we will focus on that as well. As mentioned earlier, we are strong among people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, but our market share drops significantly among those aged 55 and older, particularly those over 60. We need to improve our approach to older demographics. Additionally, while we are strong in urban areas, we are relatively weak in regional cities and prefectures, so we will strengthen our regional strategies. We also aim to further enhance synergies within the Rakuten Group. Lastly, we will focus on generating profits by selling our software overseas through Rakuten Symphony. This could potentially become a core business for the Rakuten Group. Since our international business has also become profitable, we will continue to strengthen this area as well.”

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
 

message from my last posting:

"Lastly, we will focus on generating profits by selling our software overseas through Rakuten Symphony. This could potentially become a core business for the Rakuten Group. Since our international business has also become profitable, we will continue to strengthen this area as well.”  

Viber’s Eyal on communication’s importance in the digital age, discusses Viber’s role

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmSiS72AXtM&t=5s
 

Mobile VoIP Market Size to Surpass USD 184.19 Billion by 2032, Owing to Increased 5G Deployment and High-Speed Internet Expansion

Pune, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mobile VoIP Market Size Analysis:

“The Mobile VoIP Market size was USD 50.18 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 184.19 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 15.59% over the forecast period of 2024-2032.”

Major Players Analysis Listed in this Report are:

Apple Inc. (FaceTime, iMessage)
Google LLC (Google Voice, Google Meet)
Microsoft (Skype, Microsoft Teams)
RingCentral, Inc. (RingCentral Office, RingCentral Video)
Nextiva (Nextiva VoIP, Nextiva Video Conferencing)
Grasshopper (Grasshopper VoIP, Virtual Receptionist)
Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco Webex, Cisco Jabber)
Aircall (Aircall VoIP, Aircall Integrations)
Mitel Networks Corp. (Mitel MiCloud Connect, Mitel VoIP Phone Systems)
Meta (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger)
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (Zoom Phone, Zoom Meetings)
CX (3CX Phone System, 3CX WebRTC Phone)
8x8, Inc. (8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, 8x8 Video Meetings)
GoTo Group (GoTo Connect, GoTo Meeting)
Twilio (Twilio Voice, Twilio Video)
Citrix Systems Inc. (Citrix Workspace, Citrix ShareFile)
Ribbon Communications (Ribbon SBC, Ribbon Analytics)
Rakuten Group, Inc. (Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Communications Platform)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...-market-size-surpass-140000936.html

 

und nach der Reduzierung und Neuordnung der Verschuldung wurde auch das Risiko deutlich reduziert, sodass für mich der übermäßige Kursverfall der letzten Tage nicht nachvollziehbar ist.  

Rakuten Symphony counted 31 customers a year ago, a figure that has grown to 45 today. By the end of 2025, officials expect more than 100 Rakuten Symphony customers.

https://www.lightreading.com/open-ran/...hosts-2025-mwc-victory-party
 

14 Analysten haben ein Rakuten Kursziel 2026 abgegeben. Das durchschnittliche Rakuten Kursziel beträgt 1.006,29 JPY.

https://aktien.guide/kursziel/Rakuten-JP3967200001
 

From human to machine-centric, deterministic networks

And then there is what comes next. And here he has a “very strong opinion” – which is that the next phase of mobile networks will move from being human-centric to being machine-centric, with deterministic latency and throughput. That can’t happen, of course, without the open, cloud-native and software-defined network. And here, the “biggest piece of the puzzle is in the RAN”.

https://the-mobile-network.com/2025/03/23287/
 

Fever valued at €2.1B
October 28, 2024
Atresmedia has sold a 2.7% stake in Fever, generating €59M in proceeds and a 7X return. This sale, valuing Fever at over €2B, follows a prior partial exit in 2023 when Fever was valued at €1.6B. Despite these sales, Atresmedia still has a 5% stake in Fever.
https://dealflow.es/issue/438/...ued-at-2-1b-matteco-raised-15m-ptalo


Fever secured $35 million from Rakuten Capital, Atresmedia and Accel.
15 July 2019
Fever, a Madrid, Spain and London, UK-based company operating a business based on a mobile app for social events raised $35 million.
The investment round was led by Rakuten Capital, the investment arm of Japanese internet giant Rakuten, and included Atresmedia, Accel and Michael Zeisser, the former chairman of U.S. investments for Alibaba Group. Zeisser will also join Fever’s board together with Oskar Mielczarek, partner of Rakuten.
https://nordic9.com/news/...ital-atresmedia-and-accel-news2143843847/
 

Rakuten Ecosystem in Action: Product Development Through Shared Assets

April 07, 2025

"Rakuten Ecosystem in Action" is a series launched by RNN to understand how the Rakuten Ecosystem is utilized by Rakutenians in their work. In this video, we introduce a case where an ECC (E-Commerce Consultant) who joined in 2022 connected a merchant, ROOM, influencers, and the community to collaborate on product development. While paying attention to the elements of the Rakuten Ecosystem featured in the video, we invite you to watch the story that could only be realized at the Rakuten Group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q37NJE5oocw&t=41s
 

Nagaoka City and Rakuten Reignite Region through Data and Hometown Tax Program

March 31, 2025

Nagaoka City in Niigata Prefecture and Rakuten are working together to revitalize the region through the Rakuten Furusato Nozei ("Hometown Tax") program. During the city's major event, the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, visitor marketing data obtained from the introduction of Rakuten Ticket as well as assets from Rakuten Ichiba and Rakuten Travel were leveraged to promote the Rakuten Hometown Tax program, local products, and tourism. The aim is to bridge the deep affection visitors feel towards Nagaoka City when they watch the fireworks with the Hometown Tax program. In this report, hear from two Rakutenians who have continuously supported Nagaoka City, as well as comments from city officials, local sake breweries, and food producers.

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

Looking at Rakuten's History and Mickey's Mission

March 11.03.2025

This is the video broadcast during an internal surprise event on the birthday of Rakuten Group CEO Mickey Mikitani. It is a "Rakuten History" video chronicled through "Mickey's mission." Please take a moment to watch it if you’d like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfD0af5Zmk0
 

April 01, 2025

In this session from MWC 2025, Global Head of Sales, Udai Kanukolanu, shares his insights into the customer journey and how Rakuten Symphony is looking to work closely with mobile network operators across the world to deliver better telecom outcomes. Watch the full session here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYQuhuWAbTg&t=287s
 

How Google and Rakuten are Transforming Operations at the Edge

April  08, 2025

In this fascinating partner session from the Rakuten Booth at MWC 2025, we gain insight from one of Rakuten’s most important global partnerships. For the past few years, Rakuten Cloud has been working in partnership with Google Distributed Cloud to deliver sophisticated better operations and outcomes that go beyond telecom. To explain in further details, James Dartnell, Senior Director, Corporate Communications at Rakuten Symphony, sat down with Anirban Chakravartti, SVP Sales, Rakuten Cloud, Rakuten Symphony and Eli Tabchouri, Director, Google Distributed Cloud, EMEA, Google

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk5Bh95sDcQ
 

April 08, 2025

In this session, Anshul Bhatt, Head of Sales, Americas and Product Strategy at Rakuten Symphony is joined by Salvatore D’Oro, Co-Founder, CTO at zTouch Networks, Tommaso Melodia, Director, Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things, and William Lincoln Smith, Professor at Northeastern University, to discuss the work that Rakuten OSS is doing with zTouch on slice management and provide an introduction to Rakuten’s intelligent operations portfolio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BzhJZxguJw
 

Rakuten Card Sets Ambitious Profit Goal In B2B Payments

Rakuten Card is aiming to boost its annual profits to 100 billion yen by stepping into Japan's booming B2B payments market.

Rakuten Card, Japan's largest credit card issuer, is leveraging the country’s digital boom in financial services. Despite its shrinking population, Japan holds significant potential in its payment sector. Credit card transactions are just a slice of the vast B2B payments market, valued at an impressive 1,100 trillion yen. With over 30 million cards in circulation and a solid 62.1 billion yen operating profit last year, Rakuten Card aims to grow through partnerships with small businesses on its e-commerce platform, Rakuten Ichiba. The strategy also involves tapping into Mizuho Financial Group's client base, following their recent stake acquisition and joint credit card initiative. By collaborating on new services and marketing, Rakuten and Mizuho aim to revolutionize Japan's B2B transaction landscape.

https://finimize.com/content/...ambitious-profit-goal-in-b2b-payments