Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
By Ali Raza January 27, 2021, 1:48 pm • Posted in Forex
apan’s leading foreign exchange broker Rakuten Securities Inc. announced improved performance in financial results for the year ending December 2021. According to the announcement, the operating revenue grew by 30% to ¥72 billion ($698 million) for 2020.
Other attributes also yielded positive returns, including the company’s net income. In 2020, the broker’s net income increased by 33% to ¥15 billion ($145 million), which is an indication of the broker’s overall improved performance.
Assets of the Tokyo-based firm are also appreciated following its increased revenue. It went up by a third, ending the year with ¥2.4 trillion ($23 billion).
However, Rakuten Securities was not the only e-broker that gained from the market last year. The market appreciated during the COVID-19 period when several governments asked workers to work from home.
The order drove lots of young investors to open new accounts. As a result of the boom in retail trading, Rakuten’s subsidiaries in several markets expanded their user base in 2020.
Rakuten also has established a presence in Malaysia and Australia through a joint venture business with Kenanga Investment Bank.
The partnership enables the firm to operate retail foreign exchange businesses in the countries. When it comes to online retail business, parent company Rakuten Group is up there as one of the largest. The retail giant is the fourth largest in the world, only trailing Jack Ma’s Alibaba, eBay, and Jeff Bezos’s Amazon.
The company expanded to Hong Kong after the successful acquisition of one of FXCM’s former businesses five years ago.
https://fxdailyreport.com/...s-impressive-financial-results-for-2020/
4 Jan, 2021
Japan-based Rakuten Bank Ltd. will enter the reverse mortgage market in collaboration with real estate brokerage HouseDo starting Jan. 5, The Nikkei reported. The online bank set the borrowing limit to between Yen 1 million and Yen 100 million.
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/...ce-service-61961211
In a reverse mortgage, you get a loan in which the lender pays you. Reverse mortgages take part of the equity in your home and convert it into payments to you – a kind of advance payment on your home equity.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/...20of%20your%20home%20equity.
Dell’Oro Group predicts that by 2024, operators will spend somewhere north of $3 billion on Open RAN products, which is a double-digit share of the market in the next five years. By 2026, ABI Research predicts that for public outdoor networks, sales of Open RAN products will reach $40.7 billion, or 45% share. RAN Research, part of Rethink Research, is expecting Open RAN to “account for 58% of total RAN CAPEX (Open RAN hardware, software and services) spending at $32.3 billion and to be deployed at 65% of all sites by 2026.”
Though numbers vary between analyst firms as we can see, the future of Open RAN looks very hopeful for sure in the next five years, and 2021 will lay a good foundation for that future.
https://www.rcrwireless.com/20201207/open_ran/...or-2021-reader-forum
NATHAN ERICKSON
18 DECEMBER 2020
Carousell has quickly become one of the world's largest online classifieds, and the circumstances of 2020 have only continued its ascent, as more and more customers go online to shop. With a new year on the horizon and a world still living under the threat of COVID-19, Carousell predicts that the present boom is only just beginning.
In Hong Kong, Carousell saw its active users grow by 40% since last November — at present, more than one in seven locals use the app every month. The company credits this high level of activity to the high penetration of smartphones in Hong Kong in addition to the various social distancing restrictions that have occurred across four different waves of the pandemic this year.
The app saw extreme growth among older consumers, with shoppers aged 45 and above growing six-fold in 2020. The app's largest demographic, 25-34 year olds, also grew significantly at 4.5x over the previous year.
In terms of products sought, health and beauty led the pack, growing by 54% among users over 2019. Customers seeking electronics, toys and games, home & furniture, women's fashion, and luxury items grew as well, with those categories seeing an average of 30% growth across the board.
With the added convenience and efficiency of online shopping now being experienced by more users, Carousell expects these trends to continue into next year.
https://www.marketing-interactive.com/carousell-online-shopping-2021
The result will be after my estimates an increase of the net-income of Rakuten of 31,395,679 multiplicated 8,53 (the difference between 36,97 and 28,44) = $ 267.81 million.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/...ani-exits-Lyft-s-board
These shares of Issuer class A common stock ("Common Stock") are held directly by Liberty Holdco Ltd. ("Liberty"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rakuten, Inc. ("Rakuten"), and such shares of Common Stock have been pledged to the Banks (as defined below) pursuant to the Transactions (as defined below). Liberty acquired these shares of Common Stock from Rakuten. 2. On October 21, 2020, Liberty entered into variable prepaid forward sale transactions (the "Transactions") in accordance with Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with unaffiliated financial institutions (the "Banks") relating to 31,395,679 shares of Common Stock in the aggregate following the completion by the Banks of their initial hedging periods. On the applicable settlement dates scheduled to occur during the third quarter of 2025 through the first quarter of 2026, Liberty will be obligated to deliver up to 31,395,679 shares of Common Stock or, at Liberty's election, and subject to satisfaction of certain conditions under the terms of such Transactions, pay cash in lieu of such delivery. In exchange for assuming this obligation, Liberty received a cash payment of $714,337,093.49 shortly following the date of entering into the Transactions. 3. Under the Transactions, on the applicable settlement dates, Liberty will be obligated to deliver to the Banks a number of shares of Common Stock determined as described below (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash). If the volume weighted average price of the Common Stock on the related averaging dates (the "Settlement Price") is less than or equal to $22.7527 (the "Floor Price"), Liberty will deliver to the Banks 31,395,679 shares of Common Stock in the aggregate (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash). 4. If the Settlement Price is between the Floor Price and $36.9732 (the "Cap Price"), Liberty will deliver to the Banks a number of shares of Common Stock (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash) equal to 31,395,679 shares in the aggregate, multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the Floor Price and the denominator of which is the Settlement Price. If the Settlement Price is greater than the Cap Price, Liberty will deliver to the Banks the number of shares of Common Stock (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash) in the aggregate equal to the product of (i) 31,395,679 shares and (ii) a fraction (a) the numerator of which is the sum of (x) the Floor Price and (y) the Settlement Price minus the Cap Price, and (b) the denominator of which is the Settlement Price.
https://investor.lyft.com/static-files/...9d60-4cef-b6b1-824b0add7a30
TOKYO, Feb 2, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - O2 (Telefonica UK) and NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) have announced a successful Open RAN trial on O2's network with NEC and its ecosystem of partners that includes virtualized RAN software from Altiostar and hardware from GigaTera Communications and Supermicro among others.
02.02.2021 - 02:29:25
https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/...efonica-uk-and-nec/61200547
Telefonica’s O2 trials open RAN with NEC using Altiostar software
by Bevin Fletcher |
Feb 1, 2021 1:22pm
Telefónica’s O2 completed an open RAN trial on the mobile operator’s core network in the U.K., with NEC acting as system integrator to design a customized architecture that used Altiostar vRAN software.
The trial took place at NEC’s newly created Center of Excellence (CoE) in the U.K. and used hardware from GigaTera Communications and Supermicro. NEC opened its CoE to pre-integrate open RAN components from different vendor partners, coordinating the design for operator-specific needs. NEC also has a complementary open RAN laboratory in India. For the trial with O2, NEC verified end-to-end testing and interoperability.
https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/...n-nec-using-altiostar-software
Telefonica UK's O2 has completed a successful Open RAN trial on its network with NEC and its partners Altiostar, GigaTera Communications and Supermicro, among others.
With a role that included end-to-end testing and interoperability verification, NEC helped to define a customised Open RAN architecture, optimised and adapted to the requirements of the O2 mobile network.
Taking on the role of system integrator during the trial, NEC coordinated the overall design of the system, which it said delivered "a solid end-to-end solution".
Confirming this latest trial in a press alert today, O2 said its recent work built on earlier progress in developing Open RAN technologies over the past 12 months.
https://www.capacitymedia.com/articles/3827574/...sed-open-ran-for-o2
https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/...n-nec-using-altiostar-software
Hoffentlich hat Rakuten nicht wieder so viel Mist mit einem zu früher Ausstieg wie bei Pinterest gemacht.
After expanding its affiliate marketing business into Asia in 2017, the company is now gearing up to launch ad inventory in its owned-and-operated media properties: Rakuten Viber and Rakuten Viki.
Rakuten Viki, a global video-on-demand (VOD) platform that streams the latest in Asian entertainment, recorded a reach of over 27 million in more than 190 countries. It is one of the fastest growing platforms, banking more watch time than Netflix per user. Meanwhile, mobile communication application Rakuten Viber has made its mark in the top 10 downloaded apps of all time, with over 1 billion users worldwide.
Rakuten Advertising boasts the largest affiliate publisher network in Asia, including China, Singapore and South Korea, with its Asia-Pacific network recording a year-on-year growth of 48%. The company has also secured exclusive partnerships with premium content and finance publishers.
Its set of global media properties allows brands to be discovered by new audiences, in particular Millennials and Gen-Z. 68% of Rakuten Viki audiences and 70% of Rakuten Viber users are aged between 18-34 years old, providing brands the opportunity to reach this group of passionate and loyal audience.
https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/business/...nching-new-media-products
February 2021 | DEALFRONT | PRIVATE EQUITY & VENTURE CAPITAL
Walmart Inc has agreed to sell most of Japanese retailer Seiyu to private equity giant KKR & Co and Rakuten, Japan’s largest e-commerce company.
The deal will see KKR become Seiyu’s majority owner with a 65 percent stake, while Rakuten will take a 20 percent stake. Walmart will retain a 15 percent minority interest.
Upon completion, which is expected in the first quarter of 2021, conditional on regulatory approvals, Rakuten and KKR will seek to shore up Seiyu’s digital operations as demand for online retail grows in Japan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a July report from the Japan Times, internet sales accounted for about 5 percent of total grocery sales in the country, compared to 2.5 percent before the pandemic.
The new owners are also retaining a previously announced plan to re-list Seiyu in the future. In June 2019, Walmart said it would seek to re-list Seiyu, following years of speculation that it was seeking to sell the chain after consistent poor performance. “An IPO is certainly a common goal for us,” said Eiji Yatagawa, a partner at KKR. “What’s important is to build a business that can go public. For a company to go public, you need to demonstrate a very attractive story to the market.”
“By building on our successful partnership on Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper and our deep experience in online retail and data-based marketing, we look forward to accelerating digital transformation of Seiyu brick and mortar retail and further merging the best of offline and online retail to offer Seiyu customers the best possible OMO1 customer experience,” said Kazunori Takeda, group executive vice president and president of Rakuten.
“The planned establishment of Rakuten DX Solution will also allow us to offer digital solutions optimised to transform retail at Seiyu and in new future partnerships with retailers across Japan,” he added.
https://www.financierworldwide.com/...ler-seiyu-for-16bn#.YBqk1Zeg8dU
Published by C. Diep, Nov 3, 2020
In 2019, the gross merchandise volume of Rakuten Ichiba amounted to around 3.9 trillion Japanese yen, establishing the B2B2C website as the leading e-commerce platform in Japan.
And Rakuma is a company of Rakuten, too.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1183873/...-e-commerce-platforms/
FEBRUARY 4, 2021
TW Direct, a store opened by Taiwan Rakuten Ichiba on Rakuten Ichiba in Japan, sells products on behalf of Taiwan merchants.
Many of these Taiwan-made, high quality products have never previously reached the Japanese market because of restrictions imposed by importers.
Find out how TW Direct has changed the game by introducing and marketing Taiwanese products that have never before entered the Japanese market, while saving some Taiwan merchants from the brink of closure amid the pandemic!
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/innovation/rnn/2021/2009_007/
The result of this forward operation will be a little more than a correction of the depreciation of Q3/20 on Lyft of a quarter billion
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/...ani-exits-Lyft-s-board
and increase the net income of Q4/20 about a quarter billion: 31,395,679 multiplicated 8,53 (the difference between 36,97 and 28,44) = $ 267.81 million.
First:
These shares of Issuer class A common stock ("Common Stock") are held directly by Liberty Holdco Ltd. ("Liberty"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rakuten, Inc. ("Rakuten"), and such shares of Common Stock have been pledged to the Banks (as defined below) pursuant to the Transactions (as defined below). Liberty acquired these shares of Common Stock from Rakuten.
Second:
On October 21, 2020, Liberty entered into variable prepaid forward sale transactions (the "Transactions") in accordance with Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with unaffiliated financial institutions (the "Banks") relating to 31,395,679 shares of Common Stock in the aggregate following the completion by the Banks of their initial hedging periods. On the applicable settlement dates scheduled to occur during the third quarter of 2025 through the first quarter of 2026, Liberty will be obligated to deliver up to 31,395,679 shares of Common Stock or, at Liberty's election, and subject to satisfaction of certain conditions under the terms of such Transactions, pay cash in lieu of such delivery. In exchange for assuming this obligation, Liberty received a cash payment of $714,337,093.49 shortly following the date of entering into the Transactions.
Third:
Under the Transactions, on the applicable settlement dates, Liberty will be obligated to deliver to the Banks a number of shares of Common Stock determined as described below (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash). If the volume weighted average price of the Common Stock on the related averaging dates (the "Settlement Price") is less than or equal to $22.7527 (the "Floor Price"), Liberty will deliver to the Banks 31,395,679 shares of Common Stock in the aggregate (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash).
Fourth
If the Settlement Price is between the Floor Price and $36.9732 (the "Cap Price"), Liberty will deliver to the Banks a number of shares of Common Stock (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash) equal to 31,395,679 shares in the aggregate, multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the Floor Price and the denominator of which is the Settlement Price.
If the Settlement Price is greater than the Cap Price, Liberty will deliver to the Banks the number of shares of Common Stock (or, under certain circumstances, at Liberty's election, an equivalent amount in cash) in the aggregate equal to the product of (i) 31,395,679 shares and (ii) a fraction (a) the numerator of which is the sum of (x) the Floor Price and (y) the Settlement Price minus the Cap Price, and (b) the denominator of which is the Settlement Price.
https://investor.lyft.com/static-files/...9d60-4cef-b6b1-824b0add7a30
Das könnte u.U. allein schon die Verluste bei Rakuten Mobile kompensieren, die übrigens in Höhe der Abschreibungen auf die bereits erfolgten Investitionen vergangener Quartale auch Buchverluste sind, da die Ausgaben schon in den vorhergegangenen Quartale gelaufen sind.
Höherbewertungen könnte es übrigens auch bei Cabify und Gojek, wenn die zuvor teilweise abgeschrieben wurden, und Glovo (nach den hohen Bewertungen für die Konkurrenten) geben.
„In den drei Monaten bis Ende Dezember knackte Amazon beim Umsatz dank des Bestell-Booms in der Corona-Krise und eines starken Weihnachtsgeschäfts erstmals die Marke von 100 Milliarden Dollar. Gegenüber dem Vorjahreszeitraum legten die Erlöse um 44 Prozent auf 125,6 Milliarden Dollar zu.“
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/handel/...n-erwartungen/26877800.html
Und bei Rakuten tritt der Vorstandvorsitzende Mikitani garantiert nicht zurück wie Jeff Bezos.
February 4, 2021
In this podcast Principal Analyst, Anil Rao discusses network automation with Rahul Atri, Managing Director, Rakuten Mobile Singapore.
(00:00) Anil introduces us to how the telecoms industry is responding to the challenges and opportunities of automation and Rahul explains why Rakuten made automation a fundamental part of its approach
(09:00) vRAN automation use case – how deployment time per site was reduced from 6 days to 8.5 minutes
(12:00) The foundational principles of extreme automation at Rakuten; with examples of edge data centre deployment automation and more discussion about vRAN
(17:00) The current state of automation at Rakuten; successes and challenges
(28:00) Rakuten Communications Platform, the layered architecture, infrastructure, orchestration engine, observability framework
(35:00) Rakuten Communications Platform nd industry standards, collaborating with vendor partners to build open solutions and the pitfalls of too many standards. Balancing standards with optimisation, customisation, and innovation
(44:00) Making DevOps, continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) work with partners
(48:00) Riding the Open-source wave
(54.00) OpenRAN and remote interface control (RIC)
(57:42) Machine learning and artificial intelligence; use case examples including self-healing automation
(01:06:00) What to expect in 2021
(01:10:00) Recommendations to communications service providers and vendor partners
https://analysysmason.podbean.com/e/...he-automation-rulebook-for-5g/
Wenn das so wäre, müsste der Wert in Q4/20 - wie bei Lyft oder Uber - nach oben angepasst werden, sodass diese Buchgewinne den Gewinn von Rakuten in Q4/20 erhöhen würden - so wie ich das in vorherigen Posting schon für Lyft und Upstart (nach meinen Schätzungen allein bei diesen beiden eine halbe Milliarde Dollar) und Glovo (Schätzung schwierig) vermutet hatte.
Dealflow.es #248: Merry Christmas. And happy new year.
Dec 28, 2020
Startup news
Jesus Martinez of La Informacion has an interesting story about Cabify. Rakuten is one of Cabify's bigger investors, owning about 47% of the company. Rakuten signed a convertible note with Cabify in 2017, providing the company with €33m in funding that would convert at a valuation set in 2017 (of about €500m) or at a 25% discount of its 2018 valuation ($1.4b). It appears as if Rakuten has now decided not to convert that money into more equity of Cabify, which according to La Informacion raises the question of Cabify's current situation and why would Rakuten decide not to increase its ownership in the ride sharing company
https://mailchi.mp/c1d0609f90ca/...merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year
Rakuten Mobile is scaling up its mobile network at unprecedented speed. Commercially launched in April 2020 as the world’s first fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network built on OpenRAN standards, Rakuten Mobile did what many industry experts said was impossible. And now with Rakuten Mobile’s year-end customer acquisition and performance metrics coming to light, there is much to be celebrated for the telecommunications disruptor.
Network rollout: Rakuten Mobile is five years ahead of schedule for its network rollout in Japan. While original plans for its radio network included around 8,000 base stations by the end of FY2020, Rakuten Mobile has already deployed over 11,000.
User experience: Rakuten Mobile customers are among the first in the world to experience a mobile network created on OpenRAN standards. And while doubters have been quick to argue that the technology can’t compete with current mainstream infrastructure, Rakuten Mobile customers are experiencing the fastest upload speeds in Japan at 18.9 Mbps on network vs. an average of other Japan telcos at 8.8 Mbps according to independent Opensignal data. Download speeds are also competitive with other Japanese telcos.
Customer acquisition: Despite launching a commercial service during a global pandemic, Rakuten Mobile already has received more than 2 million applications, with the majority of applications made online rather than in stores.
Despite Rakuten Mobile’s remarkable progress, there are still challenges that come with launching a nationwide network at speed and scale. One such challenge Rakuten is currently working to overcome is spectrum allocation.
WITH LESS THAN 20% OF SPECTRUM ASSETS COMPARED TO OUR COMPETITORS, WE ARE DOING GREAT. OPENRAN DOES NOT MEAN WE HAVE AN AVERAGE NETWORK; THE TRUTH IS THAT WE HAVE A WORLD-CLASS NETWORK.
https://rakuten.today/blog/...n-scales-nationwide-mobile-network.html
9 OCTOBER 2020/
https://onesignal.com/blog/understanding-onesignals-pricing/
Sangar Ali February 4 2021 14:57
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – One of the top messaging apps across the globe announced on Thursday the official launch of the Sorani dialect of the Kurdish language as a new option on its system.
With this move, the company becomes the first major international messaging app to add Kurdish as an operating language, although for the initial addition is being offered only on devices that run on the Android operating system for the time being.
“Viber enjoys a large user base in Kurdistan and is part of people’s daily communications in the region. With the increased usage of Viber for messaging, calls, accessing news and information, there was a need to remove any language barriers and enable Kurdish-speaking users to use Viber in a language they feel most comfortable with,” read a statement issued by Viber.
“As such, the addition of Kurdish as an operating language will provide Viber’s Kurdish-speaking users with an optimal user experience enabling them to enjoy Viber and all its features in their native language.”
The shift comes in collaboration with Erbil-based Korek Telecom, the largest mobile phone operator in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Along with Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram, Viber remains one of the top messaging apps used by people across the autonomous Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
She also mentioned that the company aims to continue its collaboration with Korek in many upcoming projects in the future that add value for their users in the Kurdistan Region and in Kurdish diaspora communities around the world.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/...g-apps,-adds-Kurdish-language
While Rakuten Mobile was allocated 20MHz of 4G spectrum, rollout in many of the regional centers was initially limited to 5MHz due to the government reallocation process. The company is currently working with the government for clearance to use the full 20MHz in these areas. As more areas switch from 5MHz to 20Mhz, the carrier will see its average speeds increase significantly.
https://rakuten.today/blog/...n-scales-nationwide-mobile-network.html
Chat-bot Viber was set up in cooperation with Infobip, which provided a communication platform. The team also helped set up the chat bot. Company Rakuten, Viber has provided access to the channel and can transmit messages. Chat-bot is running in cooperation with the BF “100% of life”.
«Viber is a reliable and secure platform not only for communication with family and friends in a pandemic, but also a source of information you trust. I hope that with the help of chat bot National health service'I Ukraine health workers, civil servants and citizens of the country will be able to quickly get the latest official information and advice on control and prevention COVID-19" - approve Christine Constandache, the Director of income Rakuten Viber.
https://nszu.gov.ua/en/novini/...z-instrukciyami-shchodo-covid-19-226
With its latest update, WhatsApp completed its assimilation into Facebook.
As Facebook and WhatsApp become one, the messaging app’s users are being monetized to a larger extent than before, and this should be alarming for those seeking private messaging.
In this regard, CEO of Rakuten Viber Djamel Agaoua said that the recent outrageous update in WhatsApp’s privacy policy reduces the term ‘privacy’ to a laughing stock. The update not only demonstrates how meaningless user privacy is to WhatsApp, but it seems like a new record in disrespecting users record it will no doubt keep breaking in the future, he added.
"I’m prouder than ever in Viber’s privacy policy, and I am calling all men and women who see themselves as more than just data to be sold to the highest bidder, to move their messaging and calls to Viber," said CEO of Rakuten Viber.
Viber has set an example by implementing core features to ensure user data is safe and secure.
Those features include – end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by default for free personal calls and chats, no special settings required.
It’s clear and simple – No one can access the user calls and chats except the participants, not even Viber.
Viber does not store delivered messages, and Cloud backup is off by default.
Apart from these, Viber also offers maximum security and also maintain all the protocols to secure users information.
https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/...test-privacy-update
Es ist ein Autokauf-Service mit einem Gefühl der Zustimmung, wo mehrere Gebrauchtwagenhändler im Auktionsformat konkurrieren
Sobald Sie für Ihr Auto inspiziert werden, bieten mehrere Gebrauchtwagenhändler an und präsentieren die Menge an Geld, das Sie kaufen und Ihr Auto verkaufen. Die Auktion kann in Echtzeit vom PC oder Smartphone des Kunden bestätigt werden, so dass Sie die Art und Weise genießen können, wie der Kauf- und Verkaufsbetrag steigt.
https://auction.auto.rakuten.co.jp/...car_top&scid=wi_car_top_auc