Rakuten shows no signs of slowing down, looks to raise US$1.5B for future acquisitions

It seems like Japanese ecommerce powerhouse Rakuten has no intention of taking it easy with the acquisitions. It has announced it intends to raise up to US$1.5 billion to fund more of them. As it said in a statement, it’s going to issue about 100 million shares come June.

Talk about a shopping spree! Just this year, Rakuten has splurged on things like ebook marketplace Overdrive, a 11 percent stake on ridesharing startup Lyft, not to mention acquisitions like Kobo and Viber in previous years. It’s interesting to see so many deals coming out of Japan right now; Softbank’s latest was announced just yesterday, as it poured US$1 billion into South Korea’s Coupang. So what else are they gonna buy?