Ebates.com experiences growth
Rakuten’s operational profit in its fourth quarter reached 33.3 billion yen (245 million euro), a 73 % increase compared to the year before. A sizable portion of that growth comes from its American acquisition, Ebates.com, for which Rakuten paid one billion dollars (875 million euro) October 2014. It immediately paid dividends, as its turnover grew 51.3 % in its fourth quarter.
Over the past several years, Rakuten has bought several sites in different countries in an attempt to decrease its dependency on its Japanese home territory. Currently, Japan still represents 90 % of its turnover, but that market only has limited growth potential.
For its entire fiscal year, Rakuten’s operational profit grew 18 % to 106 billion yen (782 million euro), while its turnover grew 15.4 % to 599 billion yen (4.4 billion euro).
