Rakuten to Acquire Viber for $900 Million

The Japanese behemoth is to acquire Viber for a cool $900 million. Rakuten is the Japanese equivalent of Jeff Bezos’ Amazon. It will be quite a feather in its cap once the takeover is finalized.

Japan has its version of a huge online retail store in the form of Rakuten. This big gun of an organization has just let it be known that it plans on acquiring Cyprus-based Viber.  

Viber is all about texting and calling applications. When this merger reached completion, Rakuten will command a lot of respect and influence in the global environment. Its services will have a demand in the world market.  

Millions of Viber’s users will be joining the stream of users that belong to Rakuten. The confluence will lead to a broadening of horizons and an expansion of products and services.  

Rakuten already has a hold on e-readers, financial amenities and a baseball team to boot. With the addition of Viber to the family, it will be a case of “many hands make light work”.  

Viber’s user base is spread over more than 190 countries. With this golden sparrow of a company in its grip, Rakuten will easily gain access to emergent markets on foreign soil.  

Brazil, Russia, Myan/3/and Vietnam are an example of some of the localities that Viber will open up for its yet-to-be parent company.  

The head of Rakuten spoke of how the moment is ripe for a merger with Viber and that this fact would not have been possible in the future.  

Rakuten’s main rival is Amazon. It is an extensive enterprise that employs many talented people and looks after its workers.

Source: WSJ