Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
March 25, 2024
https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...s-take-on-hot-topics-at-mwc-2024
Dear Shareholders,
On behalf of the Rakuten Group, I would like to thank all of our shareholders for your
continued support of the Rakuten Group.
To the victims of the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake and their families, we offer our
heartfelt support. We sincerely hope for the earliest possible reconstruction and recovery.
In 2023, there were significant changes and milestones achieved by the Rakuten Group.
In the Mobile business, the number of subscribers for the mobile carrier service of Rakuten
Mobile exceeded 6 million as a result of the launch of a new price plan, Rakuten SAIKYO
Plan, approval for platinum band (700 MHz frequency spectrum) allocation, and continuous
efforts to improve communication quality and customer satisfaction. In addition, Rakuten
Symphony saw new developments, such as 1&1 AG in Germany becoming the first company
in Europe to commercially operate a fully virtualized mobile network based on Open RAN
technology, which was built by Rakuten.
In the Internet Service business, annual gross merchandise sales surpassed 6 trillion yen.
In the FinTech Service business, the number of credit cards issued by Rakuten Card
surpassed 30 million, the number of Rakuten Bank savings accounts surpassed 14 million,
and the total number of Rakuten Securities general securities accounts exceeded 10 million.
Another major milestone was the first J1 League championship for Vissel Kobe in its 29th
year since establishment.
As a result of these efforts, the Rakuten Ecosystem has further expanded, with the Rakuten
Group’s annual global gross transaction value reaching approximately 40 trillion yen, up 17%
year-on-year, and annual revenue exceeding 2 trillion yen, up 7.8% year-on-year. At the
same time, various cost optimization efforts were also successful, and annual consolidated
EBITDA remained in the black, while the EBITDA of the non-financial business (Internet
Service business and Mobile business) turned positive in the fourth quarter in fiscal 2023,
and Non-GAAP operating income for the month of December 2023 also turned positive,
resulting in a significant improvement in the performance.
In 2024, we will start to improve the quality of services and operational efficiency by
combining AI with services and data in the Rakuten Ecosystem, while continuing to pursue
further growth and synergies in the Internet Service, FinTech Service, and Mobile businesses.
With respect to dividends, we have regretfully decided not to pay dividends for the fiscal
year ended December 31, 2023, in light of the current financial situation of the Company and
other factors, and in the belief that controlling the outflow of funds through dividends will
stabilize our financial base and ultimately enhance shareholder value. Our basic policy is to
pay stable and continuous dividends, while taking into account the importance of making
investments for medium-to long-term growth and ensuring sufficient internal reserves for the
purpose of stabilizing our financial base, and this policy will remain unchanged in the future.
We will strive to resume dividend payments in a timely and appropriate manner as we work
to return to profitability on a consolidated basis and reduce interest-bearing debt as soon as
possible.
We pray for world peace and the reconstruction and recovery of the disaster-stricken areas,
and our employees will work as one for a better future and the development of society through
our business.
Thank you for your continued understanding and support.
Hiroshi Mikitani
Representative Director, Chairman, President & CEO
Rakuten Group, Inc.
https://apps.shopify.com/rakuten-ichiba-jp?locale=de
By Victor Galliano
Despite Rakuten Bank shares’ re-rating, we believe it remains attractive, with its strong balance sheet and its low cost base with undemanding valuations compared to its Asian digital banking peers.
Rakuten Bank is well positioned to benefit from the negative interest rate policy exit in Japan, with its low LDR, high cash balances, growing loan book and healthy capital ratio.
It continues to leverage off the Rakuten Group eco-system, as a low cost source of new customers; nearly a third of clients use Rakuten Bank as their primary Japanese bank.
https://www.smartkarma.com/home/daily-briefs/...r-telephone-and-more/
March 27, 2024 05:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time
MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones designed for both commercial and government use, proudly announces the commencement of the tape-out phase for its Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), in collaboration with TSMC, the world's leading foundry.
As the cornerstone of AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird Block 2 program, the AST5000 ASIC is a novel, custom and low-power architecture developed to enable up to a tenfold improvement in processing bandwidth on each satellite, unlocking opportunities for seamless space-based cellular broadband services worldwide. This significant milestone marks the culmination of over four years of dedicated research, development, and engineering expertise, equivalent to an estimated 150 man-years of intensive work, as well as approximately $45 million of development.
AST SpaceMobile has more than 3,100 patent and patent-pending claims for its technology and operates state-of-the-art, vertically integrated manufacturing and testing facilities in Midland, Texas, which collectively span 185,000 square feet. The company recently secured strategic investment from AT&T, Google and Vodafone, as well as a new contract award with the United States Government through a prime contractor. The company has agreements and understandings with more than 40 mobile network operators globally, which have over two billion existing subscribers total, including Vodafone Group, Rakuten Mobile, AT&T, Bell Canada, Orange, Telefonica, TIM, Saudi Telecom Company, MTN, Zain KSA, Etisalat, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Telkomsel, Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, Millicom, Smartfren, Telecom Argentina, Telstra, Africell, Liberty Latin America and others. Rakuten, American Tower and Bell Canada are also existing investors in AST SpaceMobile.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/...-in-Collaboration-with-TSMC
March 29, 2024
Rakuten has a vast data lake based on its existing ecosystem, to which e-commerce platform Ichiba has contributed significantly. In this presentation, Rakuten Symphony’s Anshul Bhatt, Chief Product Officer, OSS Business Unit looks at how Rakuten’s unique data set, understanding of networks, and AI use cases can translate into valuable solutions for telecom operators and how telcos can leverage AI innovation to optimize their internal processes and enhance the overall customer experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD2NeBSRM_g
Rakuten’s OSS Reboot Innovating with AI to reinvent the telco
February 2024
https://8924028.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/...20Note%25200224.pdf
https://flytrippers.com/...ddition%2520to%2520%2430%2520for%2520free)
Zagreb, 14.03.2024.
The NTH Business Brunch with Rakuten Viber!
Imagine a world where your business messages and calls not only reach your audience but resonate, engage, and convert. That world is here, and it's powered by Rakuten Viber!
NTH and Rakuten Viber are inviting you to take part in this event where you can learn the latest insights about the many ways Rakuten Viber's business services can help your business grow and connect with your customers. Rakuten Viber is not just a messaging app; it's a Super App for business, designed to meet all your communication and marketing needs in one place.
https://nth.hr/en/viber-business-messaging-event/
March 29, 2024, 4:51 pm
Rakuten Viber, the leading global platform for private and secure messaging and voice-based communication, has partnered with AI studio Inflection, brings its cutting-edge conversational AI expertise to Viber's millions of users worldwide. Viber users will have direct access to Pi, enhancing their messaging experience through advanced conversational capabilities.
Rakuten Viber has joined the League of Super Apps, offering its users an array of versatile services and functions from instant in-app payments through ordering services and entertaining channels to an endless collection of stickers, gifs, and chatbots enhancing users' conversations and empowering business growth. The expansion of the AI capabilities on the platform has been an essential component of Viber's evolution and growth during the past few years. Now together with Inflection, backed by $1.5 billion of investment from major investors including Microsoft, Nvidia, Bill Gates, and Eric Schmidt, the messaging app dares to envision a future where users can leverage the power of artificial intelligence seamlessly and effectively at their fingertips.
https://www.b360nepal.com/detail/22107/...-for-all-2024-Mar-29-007700
2024-03-31 07:07
The average one-year price target for Rakuten Group (TSE:4755) has been revised to 924.19 / share. This is an increase of 11.94% from the prior estimate of 825.59 dated March 8, 2024.
The price target is an average of many targets provided by analysts. The latest targets range from a low of 606.00 to a high of 1,680.00 / share. The average price target represents an increase of 8.75% from the latest reported closing price of 849.80 / share.”
https://fintel.io/news/...520targets%2520provided%2520by%2520analysts
Breakeven in sight for Open Ran operator in long campaign against established carriers NTT Docomo, KDDI and Softbank
By SCOTT FOSTER MARCH 30, 2024
Rakuten Mobile, Japan’s upstart mobile telecom network operator, sees light at the end of the financial tunnel as subscriber growth heads toward breakeven on an operating cash flow basis in 2024.
Breakeven will be a milestone for the Open RAN (Radio Access Network) standard that allows for various companies to supply different parts of a telecommunications network.
Rakuten Mobile’s operating cash flow (operating profit plus depreciation and amortization) has improved from negative 70.6 billion yen in the fourth quarter of 2022 to negative 29.5 billion yen in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the estimation of management, it should drop to zero by the end of this year and turn positive in 2025.
https://asiatimes.com/2024/03/...n-mobile-making-gains-with-open-ran/
Notice Concerning Execution of a Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Reorganization of Rakuten’s FinTech Business
April 1, 2024
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2024/0401_04.html
Tokyo, April 1
Rakuten Group Inc. said Monday that it will begin talks with publicly traded unit Rakuten Bank over reorganizing the group's fintech businesses.
The group is aiming to consolidate its banking, credit card, securities, insurance and other finance operations in October.
Rakuten Group hopes to boost its earning power by further improving the management efficiency of its robust finance businesses through the reorganization, after the group incurred losses for five consecutive years due to its sluggish mobile phone business.
"There is greater synergy when (finance operations) are together than when they are apart," Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani told reporters in Tokyo Monday after a ceremony for the company's newly hired employees.
Rakuten Group's finance businesses posted a combined operating profit of 122.9 billion yen in 2023, exceeding the 76.8-billion-yen profit of its internet-related businesses.
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2024040100255/
Rakuten Considers Combining Financial Units: Combined value of the fintech units about ¥1 trillion
The move “is equivalent to a back-door listing of its securities and card businesses via Rakuten Bank,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Marvin Lo and Chris Muckensturm wrote in a note. “This could lead to greater synergies and boost the combined value of the three units toward the high end of our estimates, at about ¥1 trillion.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...ning-financial-units-050231891.html
Rakuten Group's finance businesses posted a combined operating profit of 122.9 billion yen in 2023. That are by a P/E of only 15 a value of 1,844 billion yen or 1.844 trillion yen.
Rakuten Group Plans to Merge Financial Businesses
Provided by Dow Jones
Apr 1, 2024 6:33am
Profit from its financial segment, including its online banking, brokerage and credit-card services, climbed 37% to 122.915 billion yen ($812.2 million) in 2023, helping support the group's bottom line.
https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/...ge-financial-businesses
April 1, 2024
Rakuten Group. has filed a patent for a method using a one-class recommendation model to predict user-item interaction values. The method trains the model using only similar user-item pairs, incorporating loss terms to prevent a collapsed solution. This innovation aims to improve recommender systems’ accuracy and efficiency.
A recently filed patent (Publication Number: US20240037191A1) outlines a method for predicting user-item interaction values on an ecommerce platform using a one-class recommendation model. The method involves training the model with a training dataset consisting of only similar user-item pairs with known interactions, excluding dissimilar pairs. The model calculates a loss value using various loss terms, including an attractive loss term to minimize distance in the vector space, a pairwise distance loss term to maintain average distances, and an orthogonality loss term to reduce correlations between dimensions. The trained model is then used to predict interaction values for user-item pairs where no value is known, enabling recommendations for users or items on the platform.
Furthermore, the patent describes a system for predicting user-item interactions on an ecommerce platform, incorporating a one-class machine-learning recommendation model. The system includes a processor, memory units, and instructions for generating user-interaction scores based on the trained model. The method for training the model involves obtaining a training dataset of similar user-item pairs, applying the model to generate predicted interaction values, calculating loss using specific terms, adjusting parameters to minimize loss, and iterating through the process. This system allows for accurate predictions of user-item interactions, facilitating recommendations for users to shops or items on the platform based on predicted values.
https://www.retail-insight-network.com/...-item-interactions/?cf-view
Relaunch of Rakuten.co.uk in April 2024
https://rakuten.co.uk/landing/help
April 1, 2024
Rakuten Group’s patent involves a method and system for determining spectral interference in proposed base stations. The process includes obtaining a spectral interference model, calculating modeled interference values, updating base station proposals, obtaining empirical interference values, comparing them, and updating the base station setup accordingly.
A recently granted patent (Publication Number: US11888541B2) discloses a method and system for determining spectral interference in the context of setting up base stations. The method involves obtaining a spectral interference model for a first set of proposed base stations, calculating first modeled spectral interference values, updating the proposed base stations based on these values, obtaining empirical spectral interference values, comparing them with the modeled values, and updating the base stations accordingly. The system includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions for obtaining the spectral interference model, implementing it, updating the proposed base stations, obtaining empirical values, comparing them with modeled values, and updating the base stations based on the comparison.
The method and system detailed in the patent aim to optimize the setup of base stations by effectively managing spectral interference. By utilizing a combination of modeled and empirical spectral interference values, the proposed base stations can be updated and refined to ensure optimal performance. The system's ability to define various parameters for each proposed base station, such as location, antenna height, transmission power, azimuth, and zenith, along with utilizing digital maps to describe the surrounding topography, enhances the accuracy of the interference model. Additionally, the system can transmit instructions for installing the updated base stations to installation personnel, streamlining the deployment process. Overall, the patent provides a comprehensive approach to addressing spectral interference in the setup of base stations, potentially improving network efficiency and performance.
https://www.retail-insight-network.com/...-for-base-stations/?cf-view
Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown that consumers like the idea of combining banking and other financial services into one place, or more specifically, one app.
Close to 7 in 10 consumers in the U.S. and Australia said they would merge their digital retail and grocery shopping and bill tracking into a one-stop app, with convenience-focused consumers overwhelmingly saying they prefer to manage their banking, investment and various shopping activities via an everyday app.
“Consumers expect an everyday app to deliver sought-after convenience: 59% of U.S. consumers and 37% of their counterparts in Australia cite seamless payment integration as a top benefit of using an all-in-one app,” PYMNTS wrote last year. “In addition, significant shares of consumers in both markets view an everyday app as a potential solution to minimize their app-related security concerns.”
https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2024/...k-and-fintech-operations/
4 days ago
Mickey Mikitani, Chairman & CEO, Rakuten Group
Recently, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we made what I believe was one of the most disruptive announcements of the conference: Rakuten Symphony is going to start licensing its mobile software to anyone who wants to use it.
Rakuten operates more than 70 different businesses around the world. We are a leader in e-commerce, travel, advertising and fintech: In Japan, we are the leading provider of credit cards, digital banking, online brokerage services – all tied together by the country’s favorite loyalty points program.
A decade ago, the last business I wanted to engage in was telecommunications. It requires significant upfront investment to build a nationwide network, and it’s remarkably complex from both a logistical and technological perspective. But I changed my mind for two reasons.
First, wireless connectivity was becoming too expensive. In most countries, it has been oligopolized by a few players who have formed their own exclusive country clubs. I decided that we needed disruption. Second, everybody in the world should have access to high quality wireless networks without limitations, at a reasonable cost. So how could we do it?
Making virtualization a reality
The answer was virtualization – taking the industry’s legacy, hardware-heavy architecture and rebuilding it to work entirely on software. This would break the shackles of proprietary hardware vendors and open up the industry to both new and existing players.
Six years ago, when we embarked on this journey, nobody believed that virtualization would work. I spoke with CEOs of major telecom companies, and while not everyone was skeptical, it was clear that few believed in it.
We, meanwhile, were the challengers, the one organization “ignorant” enough to attempt to democratize wireless mobile networks. To do this, we knew we couldn’t follow a conventional approach. We needed a breakthrough – we needed virtualization.
Open RAN for everyone
In 2020, we launched Rakuten Mobile based on Rakuten Symphony’s technology of building a fully virtualized mobile network.
This is something that sets us apart from many others in the industry: We are the only company that owns and operates its own mobile network and the software that drives it. And we are confident that our Open RAN (radio access network) software is more mature and advanced than our competitors.
The RAN sector has long been dominated by legacy systems that stifle innovation and inflate costs. While everybody is busy building software for proprietary systems, we have been working to unbundle hardware and software and drive down costs.
That’s why we announced the launch of Rakuten Symphony’s Real Open RAN Licensing Program, making our award-winning software available to anyone in the industry.
We want to ensure this disruption allows everyone access to high quality, reasonably-priced wireless networks, no matter where they are in the world – something I hope will change the direction of the industry.
Rakuten and Kyivstar leadership signed a letter of intent at Rakuten’s booth at MWC 2024.
A telecom revolution driven by partnerships
At MWC, I was honored to host one of our most important partners, the CEO of 1&1 Mobilfunk Michael Martin. We are still two of the very few companies in the world to have successfully deployed an Open RAN network.
In addition to this, we announced that our Open RAN technology will be deployed in Ukraine, in partnership with Kyivstar. We’re also working to partner with NOW Telecom to do the same in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, we are expanding our partnership with OpenAI to develop and deliver cutting-edge AI tools for the telecommunications industry. We’re aiming to revolutionize the way AI is used in telecom by addressing the unique needs and challenges of telecom operators when planning, building and managing mobile networks.
I truly believe that if telecom players don’t adapt to modern tech, they will struggle to keep up. With Rakuten Mobile’s suite of technology now available for the whole industry to leverage, there’s no excuse to be left behind.
https://rakuten.today/mickeysvoice/...ikitani-mwc-barcelona-2024.html