Struggling Rakuten Might Need to Phone a Friend
Hiroshi Mikitani isn’t as rich as he used to be — and is losing money rapidly on a bet on mobile. The smart play may be a partner with deeper pockets.
Time to make a call and hope the right someone picks up.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/BloombergHiroshi Mikitani, founder of Japanese e-commerce empire Rakuten Group Inc., is keeping investors on hold while his own fortune declines.
Once ranked the 25th richest person in Asia, Mikitani no longer even features in the top 140, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It’s not hard to see why: Rakuten shares are trading near levels last seen in 2010 as investors sour on attempts to grow itself into Japan’s fourth-biggest mobile carrier. That business lost 124 billion yen ($848 million) last quarter alone, an 18th consecutive period of red ink that has ballooned to a total of nearly 1 trillion yen as the firm builds out its mobile operations.