Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Rakuten rises as a serious contender in open RAN, to acquire Altiostar for USD 1 billion | Twimbit

https://twimbit.com/insights/rakuten-serious-contender-in-open-ran  

Losses are compounding at Rakuten Mobile, and the operator doesn’t expect to turn a profit until 2023. But it’s also eyeing a bigger piece of a much larger pie.
Rakuten founder and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani describes the company’s mobile strategy as a triangle. “We are trying to get three birds with one stone,” he said during the company’s second-quarter 2021 earnings presentation.

The standalone mobile network in Japan is the first of three vertices for the e-commerce giant.
Improving the lifetime value of existing Rakuten customers and acquiring new customers through mobile service is also underway, but the third angle, an expansion of the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP), presents the greatest opportunity, according to Mikitani.

“In five to 10 years, it is possible that we will see RCP’s revenue and profit outpace our other businesses,” he said, adding that the total addressable market could be as high as $150 billion in 2025. Rakuten reported $13.2 billion in revenue in 2020.

https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/...al-open-ran-play/2021/08/
 

5G-Network Development Accelerated by 1&1 and Rakuten Partnership

By RFID & WIRELESS IOT GLOBAL

13 Aug 2021

Construction of Europe's First Fully Virtualized Mobile Network Based On the New OpenRAN technology!

1&1 AG and Rakuten Group, Inc. enter into a long-term partnership to build the fourth mobile network in Germany.

Together with Rakuten, 1&1 will build Europe's first fully virtualized mobile network based on the innovative OpenRAN technology. In doing so, 1&1 is setting new standards for the future of mobile communications in Germany and Europe - moving away from conventional proprietary networks, which are often provided overall by just a single network supplier, to a fully cloud-based vendor-independent network architecture.

https://www.rfid-wiot-search.com/...-1-1-and-rakuten-partnership-3647
 

https://www.handelsblatt.com/technik/it-internet/...dvvJoPISvP9yn-ap3  

Record-breaking revenue

Groupwide, Rakuten recorded revenue of 402,158 million yen for Q2 FY2021, up +15.8% year-on-year (YoY). This marks the highest revenue recorded by the Rakuten Group in the second quarter of a fiscal year. Excluding profits and losses of Rakuten’s Mobile, Logistics and Investment-related businesses, where the company continues to invest strategically for future growth, non-GAAP operating income was 46,852 million yen, a significant increase of +35.6% YoY.

Rakuten’s ecosystem expands

Rakuten’s ecosystem user numbers continue to demonstrate sustained growth in Japan, with the percentage of members using two or more Rakuten Group services increasing to 73.9% in Q2. Average active monthly user numbers also showed solid growth of +12.5% YoY across Rakuten Group services, even with the added impact of increased stay-at-home demand for online shopping services that began a year ago. By leveraging the Rakuten Ecosystem, which is centered on membership, data and its points loyalty program, Rakuten Group promotes cross-use between services and increases customer retention. Ecosystem development also minimizes risk through business diversification and the added value of synergy generated between Rakuten services.

https://rakuten.today/blog/...nancial-results-mikitani-interview.html  

This was a big quarter for Rakuten’s Fintech segment as well, with both revenue and profit in Q2 FY2021 up compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Rakuten Bank reached yet another milestone in the quarter, becoming the first online bank in Japan to reach 11 million accounts, as the number of customers using their account as the main account for their daily lives continued to increase.

The number of Rakuten Cards issued also surpassed 23 million in June 2021. Rakuten Card shopping Gross Transaction Volume (GTV) achieved significant growth of more than +30% YoY, and Rakuten Card’s overall GTV market share is now more than 20%.

Additionally, Rakuten Securities achieved strong growth of +20% YoY growth in operating revenue and reached 6.24 million general securities accounts at the end of June 2021. In Rakuten’s Insurance business, new subscribers due to cross-selling between Rakuten Group insurance companies increased 14-fold since the Comprehensive Insurance Center launched two years ago, contributing to an increase in profit of more than +20% YoY.

https://rakuten.today/blog/...nancial-results-mikitani-interview.html

 

Carterea is a Rakuten-company

Reward more. Increase loyalty.

We help companies increase customer value by rewarding every purchase online and in-store at over 1,100 retailers with the loyalty currency your members love.

Cartera connects over 70 million marketable consumers with valuable offers from retailers and brands they love. Work with our expansive network of loyalty programs to grow brand awareness and increase sales potential through custom campaigns and media placements.

Since our founding in 2005, we’ve helped Fortune 500 businesses deliver over 29 billion points, miles and cash back rewards to their customers. By combining our loyalty expertise with leading technologies, our shopping solutions are focused on delivering the best offers from thousands of stores with unsurpassed rewards to our members.

Our team in Lexington, Massachusetts combined with our global Rakuten family continuously push the boundaries of product development and innovation to meet client, customer and retail culture demands. In today’s fast-moving marketplace, our agility and future-facing strategic vision continue to set us apart.

https://cartera.com/
Reward more. Increase loyalty.

We help companies increase customer value by rewarding every purchase online and in-store at over 1,100 retailers with the loyalty currency your members love.

Cartera connects over 70 million marketable consumers with valuable offers from retailers and brands they love. Work with our expansive network of loyalty programs to grow brand awareness and increase sales potential through custom campaigns and media placements.

Since our founding in 2005, we’ve helped Fortune 500 businesses deliver over 29 billion points, miles and cash back rewards to their customers. By combining our loyalty expertise with leading technologies, our shopping solutions are focused on delivering the best offers from thousands of stores with unsurpassed rewards to our members.

Our team in Lexington, Massachusetts combined with our global Rakuten family continuously push the boundaries of product development and innovation to meet client, customer and retail culture demands. In today’s fast-moving marketplace, our agility and future-facing strategic vision continue to set us apart.

https://cartera.com/  

Video On Demand Industry Market – Major Technology Giants in Buzz Again | Rakuten Inc, Hulu LLC, Netflix Inc, Alcatel-Lucent, Walt Disney Company

August 14, 2021

8 Key players- Rakuten Inc, Hulu LLC, Netflix Inc, Alcatel-Lucent, Walt Disney Company, AT & T Inc, YouTube LLC, iTunes, Verizon Communication, Amazoncom, Home Box Office Inc, Vudu Inc

https://themarketgossip.com/2021/08/14/...lucent-walt-disney-company/
 

https://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/...-by-profit-timeline
 

The first OpenRAN mobile network of Rakuten Mobile in Japan achieves an umlaut Score of 926 dots out of 1000, which is "very good“.

https://www.umlaut.com/uploads/documents/...aut_Japan_AuditReport.pdf  

Altiostar’s 5G and 4G virtualised open RAN software is important for Rakuten RCP business

The announcement by Rakuten to acquire an open RAN vendor, Altiostar, continues with the creation of a new business unit, Symphony. The event's timing is apt. While Rakuten has been advancing its RCP ambitions, Symphony establishes a dedicated telco business by combining all its telco network solutions under one single unit.

This is an interesting development given the recent shifts in the global telecom equipment market. The long-established network equipment market is expecting disruptions at multiple fronts. Technology is one.

Achieving 5G’s full potential demands disaggregated, virtualised, and software-defined networks. This has created hopes for new-age vendors who have built their complete network solutions stack to support virtual deployments with open, programmable interfaces.

twimbit expects open RAN to become mainstream over the next ten years. By 2030, more than 60% of access network spend will shift to competing RAN architecture, supporting open interfaces and virtualisation.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/...erpreet-kaur?trk=articles_directory  

https://seekingalpha.com/article/...gainst-time-with-high-credit-risk
 

https://www.rakuten.co.jp/ec/sellinjapan/
 

Domestic E-commerce GMS maintained double digit growth in Q2/21 , despite the
added impact of last year's stay-at-home demand. Shopping E-commerce GMS
trends remained unchanged and continued to expand from the previous year.

Q2/21 Domestic E-Commerce GMS
JPY1.2tn
+12.2% YoY

Q2/21 Shopping E-Commerce GMS (2 Year CAGR)
+23.6% YoY

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
Latest IR Materials
Second Quarter 2021
View Materials
Earnings release, presentation material and supplement (21Q2videoPPT_E)

 

Net Income from Domestic E-Commerce increased from 11.2 JPY bn in Q2/20  to 17.2 JPY bn in Q2/21 = 53,6%.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
Latest IR Materials
Second Quarter 2021
View Materials
Earnings release, presentation material and supplement (21Q2videoPPT_E)
 

Both revenue and operating income grew due to steady expansion of customer
base and usage as main service for each business.

Revenue YoY Operating Income YoY
Card 68.7 +6.8% 10.8 +16.4%
Bank 25.8 +9.2% 7.5 +1.3%
Securities 20.6 +19.4% 3.4 -6.3%
Insurance 26.8 -4.5% 2.3 +22.0%
Payment 9.7 +39.1% -0.5 +0.1
Others 1.4 +1.9% -0.8 -0.6
FinTech Total 153.2 +8.1% 22.5 +6.0%

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
Latest IR Materials
Second Quarter 2021
View Materials
Earnings release, presentation material and supplement (21Q2videoPPT_E)


 

Schon allein 17.2 billion JPY net-income vom Domestic E-Commerce und die 22.5 billion JPY net-income des FinTech-Bereiches ergaben in Q2 ein positives net-income von 42.7 billion JPY = ca. 384 Millionen Dollar. Aufs Jahr hochgerechnet wären das 1,536 Millarden US-Dollar, die zur Abdeckung von Defiziten im Mobile-Bereich zur Verfügung stehen.  

- after my estimates in 2022 or in Q4/2021, because only deprecations without investions, the new siutation after the compression of the investions from earlier planned seven years to only two years, increase the cash flow of Rakuten Mobile and as a following the complete cash flow of Rakuten.  

Non-Financial Businesses Financial

Operating Cash Flow was negative with 168.4 billion JPY
Tax Cash Flow was positive with 21.4 billion JPY
Investing Cash Flow was negative with 191.0 billion JPY
Financing Cash Flow = positive with 554.9 billion JPY
Increase in cash and cash equivalents = positive with 216.7 billion JPY

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
Latest IR Materials
Second Quarter 2021
View Materials
Earnings release, presentation material and supplement (21Q2PPT_E.pdf)
 

Operating Cash Flow will be lower negative in the second half of 2021 than the 168.4 billion JPY in the first half of 2021.

The two most important reasons will be after my estimates the increase of higher revenues of Rakuten Mobile and lower roaming-costs of Rakuten Mobile through better coverage of the own network.
 

Aug. 18, 2021 6:40 PM ETRakuten Group, Inc. (RKUNY)

Summary
         •§Rakuten presents a classic Warren Buffett “cigar butt” story.
         •§The company has two strong, well-stablished businesses (Internet and Fintech) that are already part of the group, with the ability to fund future expansion of the mobile business.
         •§Rakuten has a diverse product range and a compelling ecosystem that encourages cross-usage.
         •§Rakuten mobile is laying the rails and infrastructure for next generation 5G, a big play on the future.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/...of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow

 

Das sind zwei sehr unterschiedliche Artikel auf Seeking Alpha.  

Der negative Artikel ist von Karreta Advisors – Financials Blogger mit mäßigen Ergebnissen und mir nicht bekannter Motivation.
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Zum Autor des positiven Artikels
Brink is a global equity analyst at Flagship Asset Management, an institutional investor. He specializes in the Fintech sector covering a range of disruptive companies that have large re-rating potential.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/...of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow

About  Flagship Asset Management
Established in 2001 and 100% owned by staff and directors, Flagship Asset Management is a complete boutique asset manager for established South Africans who want to grow, preserve and protect their investments. Our investing heritage in global markets means we truly understand what matters to our clients. We are committed to delivering top performance across all our funds, no matter what turbulence the future may hold.
Through focus and expertise, we have the ability to grow your assets and take advantage of opportunities for you, no matter where in the world we may find them. Your future is safe with those who know.

https://flagshipsa.com/about-us/
 

Rakuten to Launch Online Supermarket Platform “Rakuten Zenkoku Super” in 2021

- Beisia, a supermarket chain operating in Tokyo and 14 additional prefectures around Japan, will be the first retailer supported by the platform.

Tokyo, August 19, 2021 - Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced that it will launch Rakuten Zenkoku Super, an online supermarket platform, in 2021. As a first step, Rakuten reached an agreement with Beisia which will see the supermarket chain join the new platform. Based in Gunma Prefecture, Beisia operates 138 stores in Tokyo and 14 additional prefectures across Japan (as of the end of July 2021).

With this platform, Rakuten provides a system for operating online supermarkets — including order management and online payments — to supermarket operators across Japan, leveraging the expertise gained through running Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper, which it operates together with Seiyu GK. Rakuten will also provide a one-stop shop for retailers offering everything from customer acquisition and marketing support to consultation services for delivery operation setup. This allows participating businesses to reduce initial costs in the early stages of establishing their online presence and speed up the launch of their online supermarket.

Rakuten Zenkoku Super also aims to provide new levels of convenience to shoppers. Customers will be able to search for online supermarkets that deliver to their area simply by entering their postal code into the platform. By logging in with their Rakuten ID at checkout, customers can enjoy a smooth shopping experience because their registered address and credit card details are stored and automatically retrieved. Customers are also able to earn and use Rakuten Points on the new platform.

As consumers and businesses alike adapt to the new normal, demand for online supermarket shopping continues to soar. From January through March 2021, Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper sales grew by 29.9% compared to the same period of the previous year, and sales from April through June continued to grow, with a 28.4% year-on-year increase for that period. While supermarkets are increasingly eager to offer customers an online option, many lack the expertise required to operate an online business, and face the costs associated with infrastructure development. Through the new Rakuten Zenkoku Super platform, Rakuten will support and facilitate businesses entering the online supermarket space.

Rakuten’s mission is to empower people and society through innovation, and to that end, it operates more than 70 services in Japan and around the world. By leveraging the technologies and assets Rakuten has cultivated through such a wide variety of businesses, it aims to support the digital transformation of retailers across Japan. At the same time, Rakuten is working to provide great levels of convenience to customers and further contribute to the local communities in which it operates.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2021/0819_01.html  

Rakuten has been dragged through the mud for the past few years. However, we are getting to a point in time where the end is in sight and long-term investors can see through the storm at a great asset being sold at a bargain price. We rate the company a Buy with a price target of ¥2234, implying 99% upside from current levels.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/...of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow