Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Boosts Stake In Five Japanese Trading Houses

Vandana Singh

Mon, November 21, 2022 at 2:36 PM

finance.yahoo.com/news/...rkshire-boosts-stake-133621804.html

Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO 2023SS  QUI - Fashion & Culture

qui.tokyo/fashion/collectionreport_2023ss

Last funding before the Cash Flow from Operating will turn positve and lower investing after completition of the base – additional a natural hedge of coming $-proceeds of Rakuten Symphony
Rakuten braves 10%-plus borrowing cost in new $500m bond sale

November 26, 2022

Rakuten Group has set a coupon rate of 10.25% for its upcoming $500 million bond issuance, as the e-commerce company doubles down on its bid to disrupt Japan's wireless communications market despite surging borrowing costs.

After discounts, the two-year unsecured notes will carry a yield of 12%. The issuance was rated BB+ by S&P Global on Nov. 16, placing it in the category of speculative, or junk, bonds.

The notes will be issued on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley will be among the lead underwriters.

Rakuten's last dollar-denominated bonds, issued in 2019, carried a coupon rate of around 3.5% and were rated BBB+ -- investment grade -- by S&P. Many market watchers attribute the much higher coupon rate this time largely to monetary tightening in the U.S.

"It feels appropriate" given that the bonds are denominated in dollars and given their rating, said a source at one of Japan's three major banks. "Needing to raise funds in an unpredictable market, Rakuten probably decided to go ahead while it could while diversifying the currency of its debts."

asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Bonds/...-new-500m-bond-sale

www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...meet-digital-challenge/

Rakuten Mobile verwendet 4G und 5G für die erfolgreiche Demonstration der Kombination von realem und virtuellem Motorsport

www.gamingdeputy.com/gr/...alem-und-virtuellem-motorsport-5g/

Rakuten is an important owner of ShopBack - On the double: ShopBack’s FY21 numbers in the spotlight

Jonathan Chew · 14 Nov 2022

Hopefully ShopBack’s in for the same after more than doubling its revenue from FY 2020 to FY 2021. Its group revenue reached US$40.1 million in FY2021 while operating losses narrowed, according to its ACRA filings, the company.

New streams of income: Major revenue contributors in the year include the sale of digital vouchers as well as commission income it earns from partner merchants. The impact of financial services including ShopBack PayLater, a recent venture for the firm, is expected to be reflected in the coming financial year.

Outflow: The company’s biggest expense was employee benefits, which rose by 37.2% from the same period in 2020. This may increase, however, as ShopBackhas been ramping up hiring, adding over 300 employees since the first six months of 2022.

Going up Down Under: Australia is a fast-growing market for ShopBack, accounting for almost a quarter of the company’s overall revenue in FY 2021 compared to just 5.9% in FY 2020. The country’s “large addressable population” and “robust consumer landscape” makes it a core strategic market, a company spokesperson said.

www.techinasia.com/double-shopbacks-fy21-numbers-spotlight

www.finanzen.net/anleihen/a3lbv4-rakuten-group-anleihe

Wenn der Kurs über 100% geht, wovon ich ausgehe, kann Rakuten nächstes Jahr trotzdem zu 100% raus.

10.25% coupon by a price of 99.968% is not a yield of 12% - its only 10.25 + 0.016 (0.032 divided through 2 years) = 10.266 * 100/99.986 = 10.27

„On November 22, 2022 Issuer Rakuten Group issued international bonds (USJ64264AC82) with the coupon rate of 10.25% in the amount of USD 500 mln maturing in 2024. The issues were sold at the price of 99.968% at par with the yield of 12%.“

cbonds.com/news/2069170/

Rakuten is the leading mail-order and e-commerce retailer in Japan, outperforming major competitors like Yahoo and Amazon Japan.

Rakuten Group's annual revenue FY 2012-2021

Published by C. Diep, Jun 1, 2022

In fiscal year 2021, the annual revenue of the Rakuten Group amounted to around 1.7 trillion Japanese yen, up from about 1.5 trillion yen in the previous fiscal year. Rakuten is the leading mail-order and e-commerce retailer in Japan, outperforming major competitors like Yahoo and Amazon Japan.

From a domestic marketplace to the global landscape

Founded as MDM, Inc., the Rakuten Group launched its small-scale online shopping marketplace, Rakuten Ichiba, in 1997. Following the rebranding to Rakuten, Inc., the e-commerce company expanded its business portfolio to include communication and sports management services, and financial technology-related services, among others. Nonetheless, the domestic e-commerce segment remained Rakuten Group’s main revenue source.

With the acquisition of businesses overseas, Rakuten expanded its brand outside of Japan, establishing itself as one of the most valuable Japanese brands on the global market.

E-commerce is one of the fastest developing markets in Japan, with the business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce market growing more than double in size in the last decade. Home appliances and foodstuffs were the most common goods and services ordered by Japanese consumers over the internet.

As consumer interest in groceries ordered over the internet grew, large store-retailers like Aeon and Ito-Yokado entered the online marketplace. Rakuten joined the competition with the joint venture Rakuten Seiyu to expand its business in to the online food retail segment.

www.statista.com/statistics/223327/...kuten-group-since-2007/

www.rakuten-insurance.co.jp/news/article/2022/20221125/

Rakuten Mobile's target of 96% population coverage for 4G was originally set for 2026. How did you reach this milestone four years ahead of schedule?

There were multiple factors. One was the decision to utilize the power of Open RAN.
Traditional outdoor base stations feature a large number of components. By moving the baseband functions to data centers, Rakuten Mobile has been able to simplify and reduce the footprint of its base stations. This allows for greater freedom and flexibility in deployment, site acquisitions and significantly reduces construction and operations costs.

When I first started doing this kind of work, almost three decades ago, it took several days to build a base station site, then several more to commission it, and it also needed a team of skilled engineers. With Open RAN, now we can define the integration flow, due to the software-centric design, and with automation as an integral part of network deployment, base station deployment is much more like plug and play. It is like Wi-Fi – almost anybody can do it. Because we’ve integrated so many systems, it’s now done in couple of hours, without needing to send a single engineer on-site.

We also leveraged the power of the Rakuten Group. The relationships formed with partners around Japan by Group companies like Rakuten Travel and Rakuten Card – they made site acquisition significantly easier.

corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/...footer_interview_lang_en

Break even of Rakuten Mobile comes nearer every day

Every additional day = Rakuten Mobile is nearer to break-even

Heading into the fourth quarter, things are looking up on the mobile side – management says signups outpaced cancellations in November, potentially signaling a turnaround in subscriber additions. As all customers will also be billed from November onwards, achieving further ARPU gains (vs. JPY 2.6k ARPU in mobile business released in September) will be key to achieving operational profitability. Also, the decline in roaming costs, base station installation and associated maintenance costs will benefit margins as 4G network rollout completes in FY23 with ~60,000 base stations deployed (vs. ~50,000 current). However, pending better visibility of a reversal in mobile, I would be cautious about guaranteeing a fundamental bounce for the foreseeable future.

happyeuropa.com/...le-losses-weigh-on-prospects-otcmktsrkunf/

November 29, 2022

Rakuten France hosted the first ever edition of Rakuten Connect, its biggest offline event of the year. Gathering around 450 participants in the heart of Paris, this event offered a unique opportunity for the company’s merchants, partners, and employees to connect in person through networking and discussions. Attendees could familiarize themselves with Rakuten France’s leading initiatives, as outlined in a speech by CEO Fabien Versavau, followed by an inspiring presentation by the famous adventurer-explorer Mike Horn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8fOwW1WzqI

Wechsel zu einem positiven operativen Cash Flow, der auch noch die reduzierten Investitionen abdeckt ,okay. Und außerdem ist das ein "Natural Hedge" zu den anstehenden Fremdwährungserlösen von Rakuten Symphony.

www.onvista.de/anleihen/...rer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.de%2F

smhn.info/202212-rakuten-super-sale-2

Western Merchants Deeply Lacking Knowledge About APAC Payments

BY PYMNTS  |  DECEMBER 1, 2022

Local FinTech wallets are a key part of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) eCommerce ecosystem. Whether Alipay in China, Paytm in India, Kakao Pay in South Korea or Rakuten in Japan, shoppers are accustomed to using local wallets to transact in their everyday lives.

www.pymnts.com/news/investment-tracker/...2m-to-expand-in-us/

by RobinWuzz on Twitter

By Jack Gold Nov 29, 2022 11:09am

A key dynamic taking place in the wireless market is the move away from fixed-purpose infrastructure equipment that has powered wireless networks for many years, and into the use of general purpose hardware that can be programmed for specific functionality.

Bottom Line: Intel working closely with Rakuten has created a combination product that should greatly accelerate adoption of vRAN/ORAN technology. While both companies are free to explore partnerships with other companies, it’s likely that this close working relationship will continue and put both Rakuten Symphony and Intel Xeon at the forefront of the move to a fully virtualized carrier environment. We expect Rakuten to create and sell some leading-edge hardware using the Intel tech, and we expect that what Intel learns from this relationship will keep it at the forefront of supplying processors to the 5G and general carrier marketplace, and ahead of its competitors vying for a piece of this growing and attractive market. Such competitors include Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD and Marvel.

www.fierceelectronics.com/iot-wireless/...-boost-5g-oran-gold

November 2022

payment.rakuten.co.jp/news/2022111400/

Workflow based automation and a data-driven approach will overcome the worries of mobile network swap

By Ashish Shukla

Sr. Training Manager Rakuten Symphony

December 1, 2022

symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...e-worries-of-mobile-network-swap

by RobinWuzz on twitter.

The winners of the Global Telecom Awards 2022 have been revealed

December 2, 2022

Outstanding Contribution to Open RAN

Winner: Rakuten Symphony, Open RAN solution

Highly Commended: NEC, NEC Open RAN

news.augustineformayor.ca/

Ride-hailing app Cabify to invest $300 mln through 2024 to strengthen Latam presence

MEXICO CITY, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Spanish ride-hailing application Cabify will invest more than $300 million through 2024 to strengthen its presence in Latin America, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company, which operates in seven Latin American countries, will use the funds to strengthen market penetration in non-capital cities, facilitate transportation to spots such as airports and continue to "de-carbonize" its fleet, Cabify said.

The Uber competitor recently announced its partnership with Beat, which withdrew from Latin America earlier this month. Since Beat left the region, first-time Cabify users shot up 218%, Cabify regional manager Ignacio Gutierrez said.

kalkinemedia.com/es/tech-corner/tech-news/...n-latam-presence