Japan, U.S. plan to keep watch on Rakuten after Tencent investment

well, Tencent's investment doesn't seem that high,

United States23.6%

France11.6%

Netherlands11.5%

Singapore10.5%

United Kingdom7.4%

FDI inflows into Japan.

Go to Okinawa, Tokyo and Osaka. Chinese-owned real estates are omnipresent under the guise of spectral companies.

Tencent is an atom of the global M&A drive from the CCP.

Didn't know much too about RAK, so I briefly cruised FT, and saw where YOY they realized a net income fall of 258.13% from a loss of 31.89B to a larger loss of 114.20B, with revenues of 1.46T. EPS TTM of -84.07? If accurate, I can well imagine aLT and ST debt structure that would require a large infusion of cash? TCEHY is an interesting choice. TCEHY is an nuts-and-bolts "Belt & Road" kind of company; apparently China's home-grown mini version to Berkshire Hathaway. It is not far-fetched to believe that RAK will want to anticipate exactly what TCEHY wants, and go there before they could possibly get around to asking. While RAK understandably bears monitoring by regulators for privacy, those same regulators should start hiring personnel, to get ready for this kind of thing to happen more frequently in the future.

@Septim Dynasty

Rakuten last month received a combined 242.35 billion yen ($2.2 billion) in investment from Image Frame Investment, Japan Post Holdings Co and Walmart Inc. of the United States. Some 65.7 billion yen came from the Tencent subsidiary.

well, Tencent's investment doesn't seem that high,

United States23.6%

France11.6%

Netherlands11.5%

Singapore10.5%

United Kingdom7.4%

FDI inflows into Japan.

What did I tell you guys here many times over?

China infiltrated pretty much all of Japan at this point, thanks to the bubble collapse and forced neoliberalism on Japan in the 1990s. Japan dropped all of its protectionist defenses and socialist elements of the economy for the entry of the American style of capitalism. Foreign ownership soars through spectral companies, like the one that Tencent uses, except for Americans and Europeans are more numerous than Chinese for now.

If the US was serious about fighting against the CCP, then they should have not destroyed the Japanese economy permanently to appease hungry vulture funds and greedy investment firms. The consequence of Japanese entry into neoliberalism is the cracking of protectionist barriers for the CCP creeping inside fast. The US refuses to fill up the holes in Japanese protectionist barriers because Western investment firms haven't done pillaging and dominating Japan yet.

Are you using a totally different Rakuten than the one on the Internet? Because that one has the most horrific UI of any e-commerce site I have ever seen. It is, and always has been, painful to shop there. It even makes the Yahoo (Japan) Shopping site look good. And that is no easy accomplishment. Even AliExpress is easier to use and navigate. And, as ugly as Amazon may be, it is like a breath of fresh air compared to the cluttered, garish, confusing mess that is Rakuten.

It looked like everything else in Japan, busy but well-proportioned, eye catching, and with much more tasteful fonts, color schemes, photos, and customized product listings than Amazon.

greedy greedy. you want china money, but with it comes the china-gov full spying machinery. now you worry. funny

People can trash talk Rakuten all they want but, I was a single Gaijin father, contract work and self-employed.

Not a single Japanese bank, department store, financial institutions would issue me a Japanese credit card without requiring a hefty guarantee deposit, this despite earning good money.

Rakuten did and did the same to several other non Japanese friends in similar situations.

Without a Japanese credit card there are many things that are not available to you, something as simple as having an online payment system like PayPal and others, not Japanese credit card you cannot transfer into your Japanese bank account ( government requirement for verification).

Before that I was limited to my foreign credit card, paying crazy exchange rates and international transfer fees.

Others needed a credit card to get their phones and were using foreign cards and again paying high transfer and exchange rates.

It took a few minutes, online application and done, approval came the same day.

Nah, Rakuten used to be great, much more presentable than the ugly Amazon interface, but it's all over now.

Are you using a totally different Rakuten than the one on the Internet? Because that one has the most horrific UI of any e-commerce site I have ever seen. It is, and always has been, painful to shop there. It even makes the Yahoo (Japan) Shopping site look good. And that is no easy accomplishment. Even AliExpress is easier to use and navigate. And, as ugly as Amazon may be, it is like a breath of fresh air compared to the cluttered, garish, confusing mess that is Rakuten.

Browsing through the Rakuten website is like wandering through the aisles of DonQ. It's noisy, disorganized, unsightly, and doesn't really contain that many bargains. At least with Rakuten, I don't worry about dying in a fire because I can't find the exit through the narrow mazes of randomly placed merchandise. So, it has that going for it.

Rakuten sucks, always has.

Sure if you don't need anything other than the slim pickings Amazon has.

In my business, I buy way more in Rakuten than Amazon, paint, construction supplies, even hard to find wood products, car accessories, and much more.

Amazon is fine for a few home products but when needed specialised local products individual stores on Rakuten have way more choices.

I have investments in a number of companies. The difference is Investors get an annual percentage return of investments. Majority of investors are NOT involved in the running of the company.

This is different from having shares in a company. Highest share holders will be involved in the running of the company.

Ohhh you know what ? This might has something to do with the US visit ! I think it becomes apparent that there is more Chinese capital coming in Japan than US can tolerate.

Japan, U.S. plan to keep watch on Rakuten after Tencent investment

Yeah, sure but how ?

Rakuten to be held accountable of any intellectual property leaks - period.

Rakuten has to take money where it can find money. It is bleeding money on its mobile, a folie from Mikitani. It overpays on near all foreign businesses it buys. And its sponsorships and sport franchises are an incredible mess. Except for the Eagles which is doing quite well.

Rakuten joining with the Japan post must be the least desirable partnership imaginable. Rakuten has one cashcow. Its online sales site which it will end up selling to amazon if the group dors not quickly jettison nearly all other non performing units. I give them 18 months to reorganise, make the deep cuts or face dire consequences

No need to keep an eye on Amazon, Twitter, Google and Facebook. We already know they are spying on everyone and collecting data on everyone. And to just not use them isn't enough. Have to install browser add ons to block them specifically. The DuckDuckGo add on tells users how many trackers it blocks and from where. Google, Facebook and Twitter have their grubby little Orwellian noses in so much.

The singular problem with Chinese companies is that they are compelled by Chinese law to hand over to the government any information that may be requested.

Rakuten was good for tennis merchandise (maybe something to do with sponsoring Japan open), and combined with the fact that tennis shops in Japan are quite poor, I am using it a lot. Totally hate the congested presentation though.

Rakuten sucks, always has.

Nah, Rakuten used to be great, much more presentable than the ugly Amazon interface, but it's all over now.

Buy directly from the stores you liked on Rakuten.

Rakuten sucks, always has.

That's it for me. Getting out of rakuten immediately.

Too late buddy.

It is like running from a dog and onto a lion.

None, of the tech companies can be trusted and avoiding them totally is

impossible except you decide to give up your present lifestyle.

@buffalo

You do know that even if you do leave, your data has already been preserved inside the database right..?

unless they provide us with an option to completely wipe out every single data from all of their systems/ sub systems, including backups, which I highly doubt it’s possible...

That's it for me. Getting out of rakuten immediately.