Rakuten Buys Buy.com

Japanese online mall operator Rakuten has announced its purchase of online seller Buy.com. The deal is likely to be worth $250 million. Rakuten is trying to gain a foothold in the U.S. market and the deal will provide it with an easy opportunity to do so. The company is already operational in Taiwan and Thailand. Buy.com had revenue of $62.5 million in 2009. Rakuten has said that Buy.com also has a client base of 14 million for its electronic commerce operations. According to Reuters, earlier this year, Rakuten had entered into a joint venture with Baidu to launch a virtual shopping mall targeting the world’s largest online population. The company also expressed its plans to expand in other international markets. Rakuten also owns a stock brokerage business, an online bank and a professional Japanese baseball team.