Rakuten, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates ("Rakuten Group") are full-line Internet services companies. Since its founding in 1997, Rakuten, Inc.
("Rakuten") has spent a decade evolving its business model centered on e-commerce, to create a market completely new to Japan. The business that began with Internet shopping mall ("Rakuten Ichiba") is no longer confined to e-commerce. It has grown into a group with operations including online travel reservation services, portal site operation, online content streaming, credit card services, consumer loan services, Internet banking services, online securities brokerage, IP telephony services and even a professional baseball team.
The Rakuten Group is focusing on two approaches in particular to target growth in the decade to come. The first is to empower people and society through continuous innovation and business operation based on our five concepts of success. The second is to establish a "Rakuten eco-system" which enables us to maximize our customers’ lifetime value and leverage synergies. Guided by the key phrase "more than Web", the Rakuten Group is taking on the challenge of creating new value by driving convergence between the Internet and traditional "bricks and mortar" businesses.