Contact: Scott Denne
Rakuten makes its largest bet yet to expand its international e-commerce efforts. The Japan-based Internet conglomerate is shelling out $1bn, at 6x last year’s revenue, to buy Ebates, a shopping rebates site.
Best known as an online retailer, Rakuten runs a variety of mostly Web-based services, which are linked together through a common membership database where customers can earn rewards points by shopping across services. Despite a concentration on international M&A – only two of the 21 acquisitions it’s made over the past decade were based in Asia – the company’s e-commerce membership overseas is only half what it is in Japan. Also, its overseas e-commerce sales dropped 6% last year to $1.17bn.
The addition of Ebates boosts Rakuten’s exposure outside of Japan – about twice the value of merchandise is sold through Ebates than all non-Japanese sales on Rakuten. Though not a retailer, Ebates attracts members to its platform by offering rebates on products that they find on Ebates (though the buying is done on a retailer’s site).
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