In its first foray into the U.S., Japanese portal Rakuten – which operates top-ranked sites for online shopping, travel, golf reservations, community, and greeting cards – is slated to acquire affiliate marketing firm LinkShare for $425 million in cash. The company also provides shopping over cellular phones, auctions, financial services, broadband entertainment and business-to-business services.
It is the Tokyo-based company’s largest deal to date. The deal is expected to close in 4-6 weeks. LinkShare will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Rakuten, and its senior management team will remain with the company.
According to Internet Retailer, LinkShare chairman and CEO Steven Messer said of the deal. This is the first time we have heard about an Asian company coming to the U.S. to compete with Yahoo here. A big player in Japan’s portal market, Rakuten battles with Yahoo in the United States. Yahoo competes heavily with Rakuten in Asia.
Rakuten has a market capitalization of just under $10 billion and is considered the seventh-largest internet company in the world. Messer is also quoted by Internet Retailer as saying that Rakuten’s intention is to become a number-one player around the world, and to use LinkShare as a platform and a starting point to build a much bigger business in the U.S.
A press release notes the high brand recognition of Tokyo-based Rakuten, a word for optimism, enjoys in its home country. Privately held LinkShare gives the Japanese firm entrée to the American online advertising market.
Privately held New York-based affiliate marketer lists Dell, Avon, J.C. Penney, 1-800-Flowers.com and American Express among its clients. Our merchants and our affiliates will benefit because taking the network worldwide can only increase volume, which means growth for everyone, LinkShare CEO/Chairman Stephen D. Messer said.
LinkShare’s performance-based marketing expertise across affiliate, search, and email capabilities provides Rakuten with an excellent first step to launch our U.S. operations and continue our international expansion, Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. We can leverage LinkShare’s client relationships and technology advantages worldwide, so that LinkShare will be able to achieve significant growth in the future.
Rakuten expects to complete the acquisition within six weeks.