Japanese Online Retail Giant Rakuten Set to Acquire eBook Service Kobo

Japanese online retailer Rakuten announced today that it has agreed to acquire eReading platform Kobo, a Canada-based company, for $315 million. Rakuten chairman and CEO pointed out that Kobo’s social integration was a key component in the pick-up:

We are very excited about this next step. Kobo provides one of the world’s most communal eBook reading experiences with its innovative integration of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter; while Rakuten offers Kobo unparalleled opportunities to extend its reach through some of the world’s largest regional e-commerce companies.

Rakuten has been expanding its business globally through a number of acquisitions this year, including PriceMinister in France, Tradoria in Germany, Ikeda in Brazil, Play.com in the UK, and investment in Russia’s Ozon.ru to name a few. It also launched Rakuten Belanja in Indonesia back in June (see our interview with its marketing head Doddy B. Ekaputra).

In Japan, Rakuten has previously opened its own eBoook website, Raboo, a few months back, and cooperated with Panasonic to open the platform on the UT-PB1 tablet. But it will be interesting to see how the company runs with the Kobo platform moving forward.

[Kobo via Venturebeat]