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Yahoo Japan acquires e-commerce portal provider Venture Republic

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Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) announced recently that it has taken over leading Japanese e-commerce portal provider Venture Republic. Financial details were not disclosed. Since its launch back in 2001, the latter has been a provider of price comparison sites and commerce-focused vertical media such as Travel.jp, Hotel.jp, and Coneco.net to Japanese online consumers. The company is also known to have invested in Indonesian price comparison site Telunjuk and Singapore’s travel metasearch service Flocations. Upon the acquisition, the company was split into two companies corresponding to different business fields. One company rebranded as Osenikku and will continue operating Coneco.net. And the CEO formed a new company called Venture Republic, which take care of the travel-related media. As a result, the comparison site business has been entirely handed over to Yahoo Japan. Since December of 2010, Venture Republic has been providing user-generated product reviews on consumer products in Yahoo Japan’s e-commerce channel. With the acquisition, the portal giant aims to provide a better user experience to its e-commerce customers. Venture Republic was founded by Japanese businessman Kei Shibata back in 2001, and subsequently listed on the JASDAQ market back in 2009. Later on it was delisted when he bought back its shares.

coneco.net_screenshot

Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) announced recently that it has taken over leading Japanese e-commerce portal provider Venture Republic. Financial details were not disclosed.

Since its launch back in 2001, the latter has been a provider of price comparison sites and commerce-focused vertical media such as Travel.jp, Hotel.jp, and Coneco.net to Japanese online consumers. The company is also known to have invested in Indonesian price comparison site Telunjuk and Singapore’s travel metasearch service Flocations.

Upon the acquisition, the company was split into two companies corresponding to different business fields. One company rebranded as Osenikku and will continue operating Coneco.net. And the CEO formed a new company called Venture Republic, which take care of the travel-related media. As a result, the comparison site business has been entirely handed over to Yahoo Japan.

Since December of 2010, Venture Republic has been providing user-generated product reviews on consumer products in Yahoo Japan’s e-commerce channel. With the acquisition, the portal giant aims to provide a better user experience to its e-commerce customers.

Venture Republic was founded by Japanese businessman Kei Shibata back in 2001, and subsequently listed on the JASDAQ market back in 2009. Later on it was delisted when he bought back its shares.

Rakuten to take 32.5% stake of fashion commerce site Stylife for $5.37M

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Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten (JSD:4755) announced today it would acquire Stylife (JDS:3037), one of Japan’s largest fashion e-commerce sites. Stylife is currently listed on the JASDAQ market, a stock exchange for emerging companies, but will be delisted because Rakuten will take 32.5% of the fashion site’s stakes. Two of Stylife’s largest shareholders Burnedest Japan (female clothing) and Parco (a fashion department store) have approved of the acquisition, and will give the shares over to Rakuten. Stylife was founded in May of 2000 as a subsidiary of Japan’s trading coporation Sojitsu [1]. It has been engaged in fierce competition against many rivals such as Zozotown, Fashion Walker, and Magaseek for some time now. Zozontown is leading the pack so far, although Fashion Walker was acquired by Japan’s largest clothing company World Co., Ltd in 2011. NTT DoCoMo recently announced it would subsidize Magaseek in order to expand the telco’s e-commerce revenue stream. It used to be Nichimen when Stylife was launched.  ↩

rakuten_stylife_logo

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten (JSD:4755) announced today it would acquire Stylife (JDS:3037), one of Japan’s largest fashion e-commerce sites. Stylife is currently listed on the JASDAQ market, a stock exchange for emerging companies, but will be delisted because Rakuten will take 32.5% of the fashion site’s stakes. Two of Stylife’s largest shareholders Burnedest Japan (female clothing) and Parco (a fashion department store) have approved of the acquisition, and will give the shares over to Rakuten.

Stylife was founded in May of 2000 as a subsidiary of Japan’s trading coporation Sojitsu [1]. It has been engaged in fierce competition against many rivals such as Zozotown, Fashion Walker, and Magaseek for some time now.

stylife_screenshot

Zozontown is leading the pack so far, although Fashion Walker was acquired by Japan’s largest clothing company World Co., Ltd in 2011. NTT DoCoMo recently announced it would subsidize Magaseek in order to expand the telco’s e-commerce revenue stream.


  1. It used to be Nichimen when Stylife was launched.  ↩