Rakuten Inc., one of the country's fastest growing Internet startups, said Thursday it has formed business alliances with three entities, as it works to expand its Internet shopping mall business into comprehensive financial services.
The news comes at a time when its arch rival, Livedoor Co., is suffering a selloff on the stock market, triggered by prosecutors' raid on the company Monday related to alleged accounting fraud and stock market manipulation.
"Rakuten, as an overall Internet service group, is doing business in electronic commerce, portal media, travel, finance, as well as professional sports, and is making efforts to develop new business lineups and widen its range of business to improve and diversify its services," the company said in a statement.