The History of Rakuten, Japan’s Largest E-Commerce Site [INFOGRAPHIC]

We recently wrote about Japanese e-commerce website Rakuten, and its joint-venture with MNC Group in Indonesia. This is only one of the latest chapters in the company’s history, which goes back all the way to 1997 when it was founded.

We thought it would be illuminating to visually re-trace Rakuten’s journey from the early days all the way up to today, where it currently stands as one of the largest internet companies on the planet.

For more fun graphics like this one, check out previous entries in our infographic series.

(See also: 11 options for Japanese online shopping that aren’t Rakuten or Yahoo)