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is a Japanese electronic commerce and Internet company based in Tokyo, Japan. Its B2B2C〔"Business to Business to Consumer." ''Techopedia.''〕 e-commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the world’s largest by sales.〔"(expanding footprint reaches America )." Retailing Today. 5 June 2013.〕 Hiroshi Mikitani founded the company in February 1997 as MDM, Inc., and is still its chief executive. started operations in May 1997. In June 1999, the company changed its name to Rakuten, Inc. The Japanese word ''rakuten'' means ''optimism''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://rut.org/cgi-bin/j-e/dosearch?sDict=on&H=PS&L=J&T=rakuten&WC=none&FG=r&BG=b&S=26 )〕 In 2012, the company's revenues totaled US$4.6 billion with operating profits of about US$244 million.〔(Rakuten Annual Reports for FY 2012 ), ''Rakuten''〕 In June 2013, Rakuten, Inc. reported it had a total of 10,351 employees worldwide.〔(Gross Merchandise Sales and Number of Employees ), ''Rakuten, Inc.''〕 In 2005, Rakuten started expanding outside Japan, mainly through acquisitions and joint ventures.〔("Profile: Rakuten, Inc." ), ''Bloomberg''〕 Its acquisitions include Buy.com (now Rakuten.com Shopping in the US), Priceminister (France), Ikeda (now Rakuten Brasil), Tradoria (now Rakuten Deutschland), Play.com (UK), Wuaki.tv (Spain), and Kobo Inc. (Canada).〔(Overview ), ''Rakuten, Inc.''〕 The company has investments in Pinterest,〔Swisher, Kara. "(Exclusive: Japan's Rakuten Wins the Heart of Pinterest in $100M Funding Race With $1.5B Valuation )" ''All Things D. ''16 May 2012〕 Ozon.ru,〔Martin, Rick. "(Rakuten Invests in Russian ) (e-Retailer O-zon.ru )." ''Tech in Asia''. 9 September 2011.〕 AHA Life,〔Rao, Leena. "(AHAlife Raises $10.1M To Curate And Sell Hard-To-Find, Luxury Products From Around The World )." ''TechCrunch''. 26 April 2012.〕 and Daily Grommet.〔Swisher, Kara. "Japan’s Rakuten Ups Its Stake in the Rebranded Grommet." All Things D. 14 May 2013.〕 ==Lines of business== The Rakuten Group consists in total of around forty businesses & services such as - #Online retail: Operation in a number of countries outside Japan; #Banking, Credit and Payments: Offering personal consumer credit services including card loans, mortgages, and other banking services; #Portal and Media: Managing portal sites acting as gateways to the internet, and performing other activities; #Travel: Operating hotel booking and other travel-related websites and providing other services; #Securities: Providing services such as online securities brokerage; #Professional Sports: Managing a professional baseball team, planning and selling related merchandise and performing other activities; #Entertainment: Online video club. The group's 2010 annual report shows that its online shopping business, Rakuten Ichiba, was Japan's largest online shopping mall, offering customers more than 95 million products from about 40,000 merchants.〔Leesa-nguansuk, Suchit, ("Click till you drop: Japan's Rakuten plots e-commerce world domination" ), ''Bangkok Post'', February 15, 2012〕〔Ishida, Michiyo, ("Rakuten posts 8% rise in Q1 operating profit" ), ''Channel NewsAsia'', 12 May 2011〕 It also had 9 million credit card customers and more than 75 million users in Japan.〔 As part of the group's globalization initiative, Rakuten Ichiba started offering international shipping. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rakuten」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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