Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
A legal grey area over who can own a US bank may get resolved, and Big Tech could be a big beneficiary.
https://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/summary?s=4755:TYO
Dec. 1, 2024
Rakuten Group has completed the transfer of 14.99% of its shares in Rakuten Card Co., Ltd. to Mizuho Financial Group, marking a significant step in their strategic alliance. Additionally, Rakuten Insurance Holdings Co., Ltd. has changed its parent company to Rakuten Group through an in-kind dividend transaction.
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/...ransfer-1034083830
Japan's Mizuho Financial Group will take a 15% stake in Rakuten Group subsidiary Rakuten Card for 165 billion yen ($1.06 billion).
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/...kuten-card-1-bln-2024-11-13/
December 02, 2024
In 2024, Rakuten Group embraced the keyword "Walk Together" as Rakutenians worked hand-in-hand with one another, business partners, and customers around the world to take meaningful action. The year was marked by notable achievements such as the further spread of Rakuten Mobile and increased AI utilization, as well as efforts to empower society and the environment including support for recovery from the Noto Peninsula earthquake. Let's take a look back at Rakuten Group's 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYjXGY3TIng
Awarded top ranking in the Pricing Plans category for four years running
Tokyo, December 2, 2024 - Rakuten Mobile, Japan’s newest and most modern mobile network, today announced it has been awarded first place overall in the 2024 Oricon Customer Satisfaction Survey of Mobile Carriers conducted by oricon ME inc.
Rakuten Mobile secured the top spot in seven out of nine categories, earning the overall first-place ranking for the third time following 2021 and 2023, and the top ranking in the Pricing Plans category for the fourth year in a row.
Rakuten Mobile ranked first in the following seven categories: Subscription Procedure, Campaigns, Ease of Initial Setup, Pricing Plans, Usage Fees, Support Services and Additional Services. The Pricing Plans, Usage Fees and Campaigns categories received particularly high ratings, with the ratings for Willingness to Recommend and Willingness to Continue improving on the 2023 survey results.
Overall Ranking
Ranking Carrier Name Score
1 §Rakuten Mobile 69.5
2 au § 66.8
3 docomo § 66.5
4 SoftBank § 66.2
https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/press/2024/1202_01/
Oct 24, 2024
Tarifica has named Rakuten Mobile's "Saikyo Plan" as the Consumer Value Plan of the Month for October 2024, recognizing its simplicity, automatic pricing based on usage, and highly competitive rates as key factors in delivering exceptional value to mobile users in Japan.
NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Tarifica, a global leader in telecom pricing intelligence, is pleased to announce Rakuten Mobile's "Saikyo Plan" as the Consumer Value Plan of the Month for October. Identified using Tarifica's proprietary Telecom Pricing Intelligence Platform (TPIP), the "Saikyo Plan" offers unmatched simplicity and value for mobile users in Japan, combining automatic pricing adjustments with highly competitive rates.
Unlike other mobile plans that require consumers to choose between numerous options, Rakuten Mobile offers a single, streamlined plan with three usage tiers – 3GB, 20GB, and Unlimited. The monthly fee is automatically calculated based on actual usage, providing an effortless experience for users.
The pricing tiers are as follows:
Less than 3GB: 1,078 JPY
3GB to 20GB: 2,178 JPY
Over 20GB (unlimited): 3,278 JPY (approximately $22 USD based on the current exchange rate)
Consumers can also save an additional 110 JPY with a family subscription.
https://www.prweb.com/releases/...nth-for-october-2024-302285591.html
Grace Reed
Digital Marketing Manager, Chemist Warehouse
https://rakutenadvertising.com/en-au/affiliate/
Posted on: December 3, 2024
The expansion in 5G coverage comes as the result of software upgrades that have increased traffic capacity for Rakuten Mobile’s 5G (Sub6) base stations. Additionally, radio transmission output has been increased following the easing of measures preventing interference between mobile wireless networks and satellite communications in shared bandwidth frequencies, further expanding the 5G (Sub6) coverage area. Combined, these efforts have increased the 5G network coverage area in the Kanto region by 110%, significantly surpassing the company’s plan to increase coverage by 60% by the end of 2024.
https://www.vanillaplus.com/2024/12/03/...5g-network-coverage-by-110/
By Finbarr Flynn
December 01, 2024
Rakuten is planning to use the funds raised for the first call on domestic subordinated bonds, a spokesperson said, adding that it decided to issue dollar-denominated bonds this time because the market environment overseas is good.
Markets are focused on whether Rakuten can make bond repayments after an ill-timed foray into Japan’s capital-intensive wireless market. Rakuten reported its 17th straight quarterly net loss in the September period, and said last month it would book a one-time gain of ¥159.4 billion ($1.1 billion) in the current quarter from selling about 15% stake in its lucrative credit card arm to Mizuho Financial Group Inc.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/2024/12/02/...ith-hybrid-notes/
Rakuten Sells Its Lowest-Yielding Dollar Bonds Since 2021
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2024/1205_11.html
« Mit diesem neuen System, das unser bestehendes Angebot ergänzt, erleichtern wir die Nutzung von Cashback und verstärken seine Wirkung, um die Erwartungen unserer Mitglieder besser zu erfüllen. Dies spiegelt unseren ständigen Wunsch wider, die Kaufkraft der französischen Bevölkerung in dieser Zeit zum Jahresende zu unterstützen. " - betont Kevin Delli, Head of e-Merchandising, Brand & Loyalty bei Rakuten France.
Diese Lösung entspricht den Erwartungen der Framzosen, von denen 48 % ein Cashback-Programm nutzen, so eine Ipsos-Studie für Rakuten France.
Rakuten France positioniert sich mit dieser neuen Club R-Lösung weiterhin als wichtiger Partner für die Kaufkraft der Franzosen. Dieses kostenlose und unverbindliche Cashback-Programm ermöglicht es seinen 13 Millionen Mitgliedern, zwischen 5 % und 35 % ihrer Einkäufe auf dem Marktplatz sowie bei mehr als 2000 Partnern zurückzugewinnen.
https://global.fr.shopping.rakuten.com/actualites/...mbres-du-club-r/
RAKUTEN Group Inc. sold a $550 million junk-rated dollar bond in the US at the lowest cost in more than three years, in a sign of increasing investor confidence in the Japanese e-commerce firm’s efforts to reverse years of losses.
S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on the company’s credit rating to stable from negative earlier this year, citing reduced losses at its mobile carrier business. Rakuten has also been selling stakes in financial units to boost liquidity, including the recent sale of a roughly 15% share in its lucrative credit card arm to Mizuho Financial Group Inc.
https://themalaysianreserve.com/2024/12/05/...ollar-bonds-since-2021/
November 20, 2024
Looking to grow your business with affiliate marketing? In this video, we’ll show you how you can partner with Rakuten Advertising and get started in a few weeks. Build high-performing programs with Affiliate Intelligence by Rakuten Advertising, find the right partners with AI-backed Partnership Discovery, and implement a full-funnel strategy supported by our dedicated team of experts. Learn how to reach a global audience, deliver key data and metrics, and uncover new opportunities.
https://www.youtube.com/...mp;list=PLau-HJ1__V2VwrQy4V61YXljO9BkeQiQ6
https://www.adzine.de/2024/12/...nanziertes-streaming-veraendert-ctv/
December 4, 2024
Rakuten Symphony has appointed experienced international lawyer, David Kadaka as its new chief legal officer. A trilingual lawyer licensed in New York and U.S. Federal Courts, David has close to two decades of expertise from top international law firms and leadership roles in global IT and manufacturing companies.
David is replacing the outgoing chief legal officer who has been appointed as the first global General Counsel of Rakuten Group's AI and Data Division, working alongside Rakuten's global Chief AI and Data Officer.
Prior to joining Rakuten, David was the chief legal officer and chief compliance officer for two key tech businesses within HOYA Corporation, a Nikkei 225 company. While practicing law in NewYork, David also worked with telecom companies such as Nokia and Huawei.
“I’m very excited to join Rakuten,” he said. “From day one, Rakuten Symphony has challenged the status quo in telecom. Our software is already disrupting the market, and the company’s technology portfolio and strategic vision have positioned us well to support mobile network operators with their biggest challenges and in delivering their long-term transformation.”
Rakuten’s artificial intelligence ambitions played a big part in David’s decision to join the company. “I believe AI is transformative – it will have the same level of effect as the smartphone, which transformed how we gather and process information and even how we interact with each other,” he said. “Being part of the revolution that incorporates AI into telecom is very exciting. I believe the decision to ‘open source’ our software is another move that puts Rakuten Symphony ahead of the curve in the industry.”
David places a great emphasis on the chief legal officer’s duty to be a strategic advisor to an organization and to go beyond the core responsibilities of the role. “The chief legal officer has evolved into being a strategic partner to the business and high-level problem solver – that’s what I aim to bring to my position,” he said. “It’s critical that the CLO understands business strategy and goes beyond aspects that are related purely to the legal profession. The CLO can’t just be someone that says ‘no’; the business comes to you expecting you to solve problems – to find solutions that are permitted under law while delivering the best possible business outcome.”
He also underlined the ways he believes the legal department can support the organization’s operations by improving the Rakuten Symphony customer experience.“I want the legal team to be proactive in collaborating with Rakuten Symphony’s business units and supporting the growth of our ecosystem in the way we work with customers and partners. The legal team must be also be committed to lifelong learning. The legal industry doesn’t always move as fast as tech, but it’s essential that we stay on top of all things related to tech law – we need to be team players that work across the organization.”
https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...id-kadaka-as-chief-legal-officer
Major Mobile Carriers in Japan
The major mobile carriers in Japan are NTT Docomo, au, SoftBank, and Rakuten Mobile. According to a survey conducted in September 2024, Docomo holds the highest market share. When looking at the usage rate as the main line, including its sub-brand ahamo, it accounts for approximately 37% of the share among the major carriers. On the other hand, Rakuten Mobile has shown the most significant increase in usage rate as the main device, rising by 1.6 points since the survey conducted in February 2024.
Additionally, in a survey conducted in October 2024 regarding the service experience of mobile networks, au ranked first in the most categories, followed by Rakuten Mobile, which was selected as the sole leader in three categories. This survey evaluated the user experience of each company’s mobile network over a period of 90 days.
Japanese mobile phone charges were previously said to be high compared to other countries. Since Rakuten Mobile entered the market as the fourth Mobile Network Operator (MNO) in 2020, other companies have also introduced cheaper plans, leading to a decrease in mobile phone charges in Japan. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in March 2024, Japan’s mobile phone charges are now at about the middle level compared to major overseas cities.
https://mobile-contract-guide.com/en/.../japan-mobile-2024-updates-en
Announced on October 23, 2024, by NTB CEO Deepak Raj Joshi and Rakuten Viber's Nepal Country Representative Kshitu Risal, this collaboration will utilize NTB’s Viber channel, “NepalNow,” to share tourism stories, destination highlights, and event updates.
This initiative aims to engage and inspire international audiences, with the channel link coming soon. The partnership reflects NTB's commitment to using digital platforms to showcase Nepal's unique travel experiences and attract more tourists worldwide.
https://www.sharesansar.com/newsdetail/...urism-engagement-2024-10-27
December 4, 2024
Rakuten Viber announces the expansion of Business Accounts, a suite of free tools for small businesses in the Philippines to enrich their online presence and interaction with customers. Business Accounts were launched in the country in October 2023, and have now been scaled to provide additional capabilities and new features. These include comprehensive messaging, analytics, and automation tools that help small businesses grow cost-efficiently. These tools also allow customers to find these businesses more quickly, and receive personalized communications and support within the app.
Rakuten Viber has seen a 65% increase in the number of newly created Business Accounts in the Philippines since the beginning of 2024. Interest has been particularly strong from technicians and consultants and from health and beauty as well as ecommerce businesses. Based on their feedback, Business Accounts have been enriched with enhanced messaging and analytics tools. These optimize communication between businesses and customers with seamless conversations like in any other chats on Viber, while enabling business owners to gain insights from their activity and audience.
Overall, 90% of consumers say they spend more money with brands that offer personalized experiences aligned with their preferences. 88% of consumers are more likely to return to a brand that offers good customer service. The expanded Business Accounts functionalities enable small businesses to meet these expectations by supporting all.
https://www.adobomagazine.com/digital-news/...ses-in-the-philippines/
04/12/2024
Rakuten Viber ist stolz darauf, seine doppelte Auszeichnung bei den The Wires Awards 2024 bekannt zu geben, die in zwei Hauptkategorien ausgezeichnet wurden: Best Use of Immersive Technology und Best Regional Campaign – EMEA. Diese Auszeichnungen würdigen die bahnbrechende Karnevalskampagne für Fanta, die in Zusammenarbeit mit The Coca-Cola Company und Mindshare umgesetzt wurde.
Die Kampagne, die zur Feier der Karnevalssaison in Griechenland konzipiert wurde, wies auf eine Reihe von Medieninnovationen durch die Rakuten Viber-Plattform hin. Griechenland war der erste Markt, der Branded Viber Gems auf den Markt brachte – dynamische Animationen, die durch feiertagsbezogene Keywords ausgelöst wurden. Darüber hinaus wurden zum ersten Mal die AR-gestützten Viber-Markenlinsen eingeführt, die den Nutzern ein wirklich interaktives Erlebnis bieten.
https://www.businessnews.gr/epixeiriseis/item/...ania-tis-me-ti-fanta
Rakuten Viber, the global leader in private and secure messaging and voice-based communication launches a new suite of business tools for small and medium-sized businesses. Aimed to expand its overall strategy to empower businesses of every size to build their digital presence and boost customer engagement, and drive sales, Rakuten Viber has introduced diversified business solutions as a communications hub for businesses to supporting marketing goals and enabling local users to discover services. The first solution to launch on the platform is a free, self-serve communications hub for small and micro businesses to conveniently engage with local customers, manage incoming queries, enhance a business’s discoverability, and drive sales. Additional value-added services for medium-to-large business accounts will also be available soon.
Currently, the new features include public business profile where businesses can create a public, searchable business page featuring all essential information that can be shared with customers inside the app or even with people who are not Rakuten Viber users yet.
https://cebuchamber.org/...buts-launches-toolkits-for-all-businesses/
2 days ago
At the recent Rakuten Technology Conference in Tokyo, company Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani took to the podium to share Rakuten’s innovation backstory and offer a bold vision for its future with engineers around the globe.
“When we started Rakuten in 1997, some of you were not even born,” he joked. “Everybody thought the internet was going to be very, very powerful.”
Even as the dot-com bubble wiped out many of the first internet businesses, Mikitani’s faith remained unshaken.
“The power of the internet lies in connecting all information and data as one gigantic virtual index… We believed that the connection of data would change the world, so that’s how we started. Fast forward, now Rakuten has been growing, adding new services, challenging conventional wisdom,” Mikitani told the audience. “We bet on the future. Now we are a leader in e-commerce, credit cards, digital banking, online brokerage, online travel, and Rakuten is a very global company.”
Dragging the telco industry into the digital age
Shopping, finance, travel – the early 2000s saw the internet revolutionize industry after industry.
“We thought about what we should do in this kind of transformative, revolutionary period,” Mikitani recalled. “There was just one thing that had not really transformed: mobile networks.”
Even as the numbers have changed from 1G to 5G and beyond, the telecommunications industry has continued to rely on old systems. “Fundamentally, the architecture of mobile networks has never been modernized. It’s all based on proprietary, specialized software.”
Rakuten Mobile launched in March 2020, and has grown rapidly to exceed 8 million subscribers as of October 2024. “I thought it was a crazy idea,” Mikitani admitted. “I said okay, let’s try it. It’s a huge risk, but we’re gonna take that risk because we have been challenging the status quo for so long.”
Rakuten’s cutting-edge, fully virtualized cloud native network built around open specifications, set a new standard for modern telecommunications, relying entirely on software and non-proprietary hardware. It’s an approach that allows for much greater flexibility to implement new tech, including 5G, edge computing and AI.
“What does this mean? Number one, costs go dramatically down,” Mikitani explained. “With software we can really create new functions, new compute much easier. That’s the difference between Rakuten Mobile and other mobile companies – not only in Japan but globally speaking. That’s huge.”
The effects of Rakuten Mobile’s innovation and aggressive pricing are being felt across Japan’s economy.
“What Rakuten created is not just competition among mobile carriers in Japan; we kind of destroyed the vertical walls of the mobile industry,” Mikitani continued. “Because of the competition we created, while the Japanese retail price index went up almost 11%, only mobile bills came down – more than 20 percent in Japan. Japanese households altogether saved 4 trillion yen per year.”
Rakuten Mobile’s tech has already made its way to Europe, where German carrier 1&1 launched Europe’s most modern mobile network. Rakuten has also announced a licensing program to make its cutting-edge systems available to other ambitious carriers around the globe. “What we have done in Japan is now influencing the whole world.”
Wake up: AI is transforming society
Mikitani asked the audience to consider one fundamental question: What is AI?
“We are talking about letting machines do what humans have been doing, maybe even better in some cases… they can connect points that we think are totally irrelevant and come up with new solutions,” he remarked. “We know AI is massive. It’s not just incremental improvement or incremental innovation; it will completely redefine the world. But it must be used responsibly. As an AI empowerment company, our vision is human intelligence augmented by AI.”
The importance of AI tech going forward is something that everyone needs to face.
“Now, not only Rakuten – entire businesses, entire organizations, society, community, government – everybody needs to realize this,” Mikitani warned. “Maybe the future won’t just be an extension of history; we may see something we have never seen.”
For Mikitani, the strategy is clear: “Rakuten is doing two things. One is partnership with innovative AI companies, such as OpenAI and others. The other is basically developing our own large language models,” he revealed. “We want to give AI to our businesses, to our clients. The concept of Rakuten is to empower through AI.”
In this new tech race, Rakuten has one major advantage: data.
“Our strength – on top of our engineering power – is that we probably have the richest, most unique set of data among all companies in the world,” Mikitani professed. “These AIs we train based on data. Without the data, you cannot do it.”
An AI bridge to the Rakuten Ecosystem
In addition to employees and clients, Rakuten is also trying to get AI tools into the hands of customers: The newly announced Rakuten Link AI is a cutting-edge chat service, free to use by anyone subscribed to Rakuten Mobile.
“What we are trying to do is create an AI bridge to our services,” Mikitani explained. “Before, if you think about what Rakuten has done, we’ve basically had three strategies: single brand, single ID, single point. That’s it. That’s how we have been bridging one service, one app to another: utilizing data, cross-selling, lowering customer acquisition cost, maximizing lifetime value. But this is very costly.”
In the future, Mikitani envisages using AI to connect all of Rakuten’s offerings through a concierge-like experience. For a trip to Hokkaido, for example, it could book a hotel through Rakuten Travel, order some warm clothes from Rakuten Ichiba, and reserve a restaurant through Rakuten GURUNAVI – all in a single conversation.
“We have already combined Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Travel, Rakuten Books, and Rakuten Mobile, but all our other services will be combined too,” Mikitani stated. “We can really connect our services using AI, and this is one of the initiatives that we are doing called Rakuten AI Assistant.”
Englishnization to AI-nization
The theme of the 2024 Rakuten Technology Conference was ‘AI-nization 4 all,’ a play on Rakuten’s famous ‘Englishnization‘ initiative. Without this big bet on English over a decade ago, Rakuten would never have been able to attract such a diverse group of talent.
“It was one of the craziest projects, I think, in the recent history of Japanese business society. Now we are trying to do the same thing for AI.” he stressed. “The company in which everybody can use AI versus the company in which nobody can use AI – who’s going to win? It’s very obvious.”
Even as Rakutenians look to leverage the power of AI, Mikitani reiterated that they mustn’t lose sight of the company’s core philosophy: “We really want to make sure that AI is not going to harm society, but empower people, and make life more enjoyable.”
https://rakuten.today/blog/...ni-talks-mobile-and-ai-at-rtc-2024.html
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