Rakuten, an e-commerce and internet company based out of Tokyo has announced a $900 million deal to buy Viber; a mobile voice and instant messaging company.
It merits mentioning that Rakuten has also acquired Canada’s ebook platform Kobo, Spanish video service Wuaki.tv, and Viki; it aims to be world’s number one internet services company.
Viber has rocketed in popularity in the recent years, and has more than 300 million registered users. The Viber application is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows, Mac, Linux, BlackBerry and many other mobile and desktop platforms. Besides providing Rakuten access to new markets, the deal will offer new potential markets for Viber through Rakuten users.
Rakuten’s founder & CEO Hiroshi Mikitani said in a statement:
Viber understands how people actually want to engage and have built the only service that truly delivers on all fronts. This makes Viber the ideal total consumer engagement platform for Rakuten.
