E-commerce superpower Rakuten, who also own www.play.com, posted 2011 revenues of$ 4.7 billion with operating profits of approximately $886m, and employs some 10,000 employees worldwide. Presumably aiming to assimilate a large demographic of consumers that currently use photo-sharing mobile app Instagram, Pinterest could yet explode in the lucrative and dynamic Far East markets.
Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten, said: “While some may see e-commerce as a straightforward vending machine-like experience, we believe it is a living process where both retailers and consumers can communicate, discover, and curate to make the experience more entertaining. We see tremendous synergies between Pinterest’s vision and Rakuten’s model for e-commerce. Rakuten looks forward to introducing Pinterest to the Japanese market as well as other markets around the world.”
Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest, added: “Our goal is to help people discover things they love, by connecting people through their shared interests. Bringing Rakuten on board gives us an amazing opportunity to move a step closer to this goal.”
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