Rakuten will acquire Viber for a total consideration of $900 million. TOKYO, FebruRakuten Inc (4755:Tokyo), one of the world’s largest Internet services companies, announced today its acquisition of pioneering messaging and VoIP company, Viber. Rakuten accelerates its digital strategy by entering global messaging and VoIP, reinforces its focus on rapid growth of its global membership and Internet services ecosystem The company also has an Internet bank, a travel service and even a baseball team. Rakuten, which has mostly been a huge e-commerce business, has been increasing its efforts to diversify, from buying e-book reader Kobo to investing in Pinterest to the most recent purchase of premium video service Viki. Line, which now will be Rakuten’s rival in Japan, is likely to go public and has significant revenue as a mobile gaming platform. Viber - which is very voice-oriented - has also been aiming at claiming the Internet communications business from Microsoft-owned Skype. Others are big, but only regionally, such as Japan’s popular Line or Korea’s KakaoTalk. It also gives the company an international footprint, since Viber operates in almost 200 countries, the only messaging player with a globally significant presence besides WhatsApp. It gives Rakuten the technology to offer customers the ability to make Internet calls on a range of devices such as smartphones. The Cyprus-based Viber is a voice-call application, which is a new and important arena for Rakuten. In another aggressive acquisition, Japan’s Rakuten paid $900 million in cash for Viber, a global messaging company.
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