Rakuten Inc. plans to raise ¥242 billion ($2.2 billion) by selling shares to investors including Tencent Holdings Ltd., Walmart Inc. and Japan Post Holdings Co., bankrolling expansions into AI, finance and mobile.
Japan Post will buy a stake of 8.32% via new and existing shares in Rakuten while China’s social media leader and the U.S. retail giant will take smaller slices, a filing showed Friday. Shares of Rakuten and Japan Post surged as the agreement builds on an existing alliance on logistics forged by the two last year.
The Japanese e-commerce pioneer has benefited from a boom in online shopping during the pandemic, but faces stiff competition from Amazon.com Inc. Last year, the company scaled back plans to offer free shipping after pushback from sellers using its platform prompted regulatory scrutiny. Rakuten is also expanding rapidly into wireless mobile, hoping to disrupt the staid industry.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.