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/  

Targeting full-year EBITDA to turn positive in 2025

Rakuten Mobile achieved profitability in the final month of 2024 five years after launch, with chair Mickey Mikitani targeting full-year EBITDA to turn positive in 2025, driven by subscriber and ARPU gains.
The operator’s EBITDA in December hit JPY2.3 billion ($15.1 million). The figure for the full-year dropped by JPY98.7 billion from a year ago to a loss of JPY53.8 billion.

Mikitani attributed the move to profit to strong subscriber acquisition and increased ARPU due to improved network quality, as well as ongoing cost control and rising ad revenue.

https://www.telecomschamber.org/industry-news/...ofitability-in-2025/

 

Why Rakuten Mobile’s network keeps getting better: Vice CTO Takeshita explains

January 8, 2025

https://rakuten.today/blog/...ce-cto-takeshita-explains%EF%BF%BC.html
 

Introducing the New Rakuten Card Sendai Branch Office

March 07, 2025

In September 2024, the Rakuten Card Sendai branch office relocated to accommodate the expansion of the organization. The new office, located just a 6-minute walk from Sendai Station, features approximately 600 workspaces and meeting rooms. The office is also equipped with excellent welfare facilities, including a cafeteria that offers three free meals a day and a study lounge for skill development and reading. The matching original hoodies worn by Rakutenians carry a unique meaning specific to the Sendai office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lv7h0S1Xkc&t=101s
 

 

Scaling a five-nines architecture from RAN to enterprise

March 07, 2025

Telcos have been asking Wind River if they could use their highly reliable RAN software architecture in the enterprise. To make this possible, Wind River is partnering with Rakuten Symphony to enhance the platform for enterprise use, with highly reliable and scalable storage. Here, Rakuten Symphony’s Ani Chakravartii and Wind River’s Darrell Jordan-Smith explain how their joint customers can use the same five-nines architecture from edge to cloud.

Featuring: Anirban Chakravartti, SVP Global Head of Sales (Enterprise), Rakuten Symphony Darrell Jordan-Smith, Chief Revenue Officer, Wind River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YoI1hfxhWs
 

 

 

What are the main challenges of the telco to techco journey?

March 06, 2025

Virtusa’s Niladri Dutta outlines how telcos transition into AI native from cloud native, and the potential for network-as-a-service (NaaS) to act as an accelerator for 5G monetisation.

Featuring: Niladri Dutta, Global Telco Industry Consulting & Solutions Leader, Virtusa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlwCIS2GSOU
 

BARCELONA, Spain/BAAR, Switzerland, 5 March 2025. – GMS is proud to announce a new Platinum Partner status within ‘Rakuten Viber Partner Growth Program’. This marks a significant milestone in GMS's global mission to deliver next-generation communication experiences to brands, built on 10 years of trust and fruitful collaboration with Rakuten Viber.  

This partnership started with introduction of Rakuten Viber products to Ukrainian brands back to 2015. GMS pioneered the use of Viber messaging services for businesses in Ukraine and took it further, helping thousands of companies globally to establish engaging conversations with their clients, expanding reach, building loyalty, and driving growth.  

https://gms.net/news/...cognized-as-platinum-partner-of-rakuten-viber
 

10 March 2025

Shifting to a data-first mindset can unravel operational complexity, as well as unlock new possibilities to implement AI Ops.

https://the-mobile-network.com/2025/03/the-telco-complexity-crisis/

 

 

How Open RAN nearly got *too* open, and how to build the networks of the future.

7 March 2025

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

Odine, a global technology partner in sustainable network and digital transformation, is pleased to announce that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Rakuten Symphony, a global leader in cloud-native Open RAN telco infrastructure, services, and solutions. This strategic collaboration marks a significant step in accelerating the adoption of cutting-edge solutions in Türkiye, Middle East and Africa.

https://odine.com/news-insights/...ovation-in-network-transformation/
 

Copilot, now available on Viber

Copilot can now be directly accessed within the Viber app. Enjoy everything Copilot has to offer from getting answers to asking for advice, generating images and more.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot/...0acaa65c8ecd6306

Rakuten Viber, or simply Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten.

https://www.bing.com/...;FORM=ANAB01&adppc=EDGEDSP&PC=EDGEDSP
 

Japanese Telecom Giants Promote Open RAN Technology at Mobile World Congress; Aiming to Challenge European, Chinese Dominance

March 7, 2025

Rakuten Group, Inc. is leading the charge for Open RAN adoption. Rakuten, which fully entered the mobile phone business in April 2020, set up Open RAN across its domestic network to reduce the cost of capital investment.

Gaining technical expertise has earned Rakuten international recognition. The company secured a contract from a German telecom startup to build an Open RAN-based network and launched services there in December 2023.

“We aim to make our Open RAN technology the de facto standard,” said Rakuten Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani to reporters at the MWC on Tuesday.

According to U.S.-based research firm Dell’Oro Group, only about 10% of global base stations use Open RAN. However, this is expected to increase to approximately 25% by 2028.

https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/science-nature/...gy/20250307-242222/
 

Rakuten Group quarterly domestic e-commerce GMS 2015-2024

Published by C. Diep, Mar 6, 2025

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the domestic gross transaction value of the Rakuten Group's e-commerce segment amounted to over 1.7 trillion Japanese yen, growing by 9.5 percent compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year. The Japanese online retailing company is headquartered in Tokyo, and operates the online marketplace Rakuten Ichiba.

The company's fiscal year and fourth quarter ended December 31 of the stated year.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/223341/...tic-e-commerce-revenue/
 

March 11, 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
 

The Shifting Landscape of the RAN Market: Current Trends and Future Outlook

March 4, 2025

https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...urrent-trends-and-future-outlook
 

For the full year 2024, Rakuten‘s operating income was 52.98 billion yen, a turnaround from a loss of 212.86 billion yen the prior year, beating the estimated loss of 36.64 billion yen.

https://www.smartkarma.com/home/newswire/...timates-despite-net-loss/

If the pace of the growth of the operating income will be 212.86 billion in 2025 too, the net income will reach 52.98 billion yen + 212.86 billion = 267.84 billion yen = about $ 1.8 billion = by about 2.15 billion shares = about $ 0.84/share.
 

Chris Neiger, The Motley Fool
Wed, March 12, 2025

Shares of quantum computing company IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) were rising this morning after Japanese online brokerage firm Rakuten Securities disclosed in an SEC filing that it recently purchased 90,000 shares of IonQ's stock.

IonQ's share price is likely also getting a bump after it announced yesterday that its quantum networking patent portfolio has reached nearly 400 granted or pending patents following a recent acquisition.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...stock-surging-higher-161437692.html
 

Telkom in KSh568M partnership to develop and test advanced mobile network technology
March 12, 2025

Telkom Kenya has partnered with mobile equipment vendors Rakuten Symphony, a leading service-based technology company from Japan, and Airspan Networks, a telecommunications company from the United States, to develop and test Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology.

The Japanese and United States governments will fund this project through a technology grant of KSh 568 Million (US$ 4.4 Million) that will be administered by Rakuten Symphony and Airspan Networks.

The project partners will set up a testing facility and conduct field and network tests in their quest to advance 4G/5G, Open RAN, and AI innovation on the African continent.

A long-term objective of the project is knowledge transfer and training of local developers and engineers.

https://telkom.co.ke/press-release/...0(Open%2520RAN)%2520technology.
 

 

What Is VIBER DATING & How Does It Work? [New Viber Feature]

February 03, 2025

Are you curious about Viber Dating and how it works? In this video, we’ll explore how people use Viber to connect, meet new people, and even build relationships. While Viber isn’t a traditional dating app, many users take advantage of its features—such as messaging, voice and video calls, and group chats—to find and communicate with potential matches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjOwWW6xbgU&t=147s

Rakuten Viber, or simply Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten.

https://www.bing.com/...;FORM=ANAB01&adppc=EDGEDSP&PC=EDGEDSP
 

Viber Dating Provides Safe Space for Real Connections

March 13.03.2025

Viber Dating is a new feature launched by Rakuten Viber around Valentine's Day 2025, designed to foster genuine connections while prioritizing user privacy and security. By ensuring profiles are verified and private, Viber Dating addresses common concerns about online dating, such as fake profiles and scams, offering a safe and comfortable platform for users to connect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI0KPwSH2PY

Rakuten Viber, or simply Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten.
https://www.bing.com/search?

q=Viber%2C+rakuten%2C+ownership&cvid=ca1f4b3286a34956a1db79823c26e4cf&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOdIBCTE2ODc4ajBqNKgCCLACAQ&FORM=ANAB01&adppc=EDGEDSP&PC=EDGEDSP
 

Announced today at #MWC25, Isbel will deliver Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN, Cloud and OSS solutions to mobile network operators in Latin America.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/...n-activity-7302979980336984064-PVq0