Rakuten, a major Japanese online shopping mall operator, has been on a buying spree of other smaller internet companies focused on eCommerce retailing. In a recent article, found here, the company announced the second major acquisition after its announcement to purchase buy.com in the U.S. Rakuten owns and operates a diverse set of companies, from professional sports teams to performance-marketing internet companies like Linkshare. Rakuten is purchasing a French online shopping mall operator for over $250 million to expand its footprint in Europe as it aggressively expands internationally beyond its home market in Japan. It should be very interesting to see future expansion moves by the company into international markets…
