Top e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc. has acquired a 15.46 percent equity stake in Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. and proposed integrating management of the two firms under a holding company, Rakuten's president said Thursday.
Earlier in the day, sources said an investment fund headed by Yoshiaki Murakami, a former trade ministry official and a shareholder-rights advocate, acquired 7 percent of outstanding TBS shares.
Rakuten chief Hiroshi Mikitani said during a hastily arranged news conference at a Tokyo hotel that the 88 billion yen investment in the TV broadcaster and the integration proposal are aimed at "creating a media group that will pass as a global player."