The largest Internet company in Japan Rakuten will acquire Cyprus-based company Viber for 900m USD.
Rakuten is one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies and Viber is one of the most popular free calling services in the world. Rakuten acquisition of Viber is one step closer to reaching their goal of becoming “No. 1 Internet services company”.
Rakuten is well-known for dozen of acquisitions also in Europe, like acquiring French logistic company Alpha Direct Service for enabling same day deliveries in Paris and next-day deliveries across Europe, then Spanish video streaming service Wuaki.tv. Also invested in global Internet brands such is Pinterest (100m USD) etc.
Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani said: “I am tremendously excited to welcome Viber to the Rakuten family. Viber delivers the most consistently high quality and convenient messaging and VoIP experience available. Additionally, Viber has introduced a great sticker market and has tremendous potential as a gaming platform.”
Acqusition of Viber is one of the biggest acquisitions in the SEEMEA region.
