Japan E-Commerce Giant Rakuten to Buy U.S. Rival for about $1.0 Billion
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten said Tuesday it would buy U.S. online shopping operator Ebates for about $1.0 billion as it looks to tap overseas markets to counter a limited home market.
Rakuten said the all-cash deal would give it access to 2.5 million new customers in various markets including the United States, Canada, South Korea and China.
"The company will acquire Ebates for a total consideration of $1 billion in cash, and will hold 100 percent of Ebates outstanding voting stock," Rakuten said in a statement.
The firm's billionaire chief executive Hiroshi Mikitani was due to give a news briefing shortly after the announcement.
The move could help Rakuten compete abroad with industry giants Amazon and China's Alibaba, which is preparing an initial public offering that could raise as much as $24.3 billion in what be the biggest share sale in history.
San Francisco-based Ebates runs websites that offer rebates and coupons for shopping from 1,700-plus partner retailers, including Amazon and eBay.
It hosted about $2.2 billion in transactions in its 2013 fiscal year.
Since launching its business in Taiwan in 2008, Rakuten has expanded to more than 10 foreign markets.
But its overseas e-commerce transactions are a small share of its overall business, which is focused on a domestic market that is unlikely to offer much more room for growth.
Last year, Rakuten bought U.S. video-streaming provider Viki for about $200 million while in February it picked up messaging app provider Viber for around $900 million.
It has also scooped up Canadian e-reader firm Kobo.
Source: Agence France Presse
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