Rakuten acquires ad platform developer LOB

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Rakuten Inc says it has reached a final agreement regarding the acquisition of LOB Inc, a developer and supplier of advertising platforms, as a wholly owned subsidiary.

LOB is an ad technology company founded in 2016 that primarily develops and provides advertising platforms. Rakuten will leverage the company’s technical prowess and development capabilities to strengthen its global advertising platform.

Rakuten is harnessing big data to provide its client companies with full-funnel marketing solutions suited to every stage of consumption behavior. In May, the company consolidated its suite of advertising-related products under the Rakuten Marketing Platform brand, in order to achieve a more integrated approach to marketing.

In addition, Rakuten said it aims to increase advertising revenue to 200 billion yen by 2021. At present, the majority of revenue comes from adverts on the more than 70 services, including the Rakuten Ichiba internet shopping mall. However, Rakuten will collaborate with LOB to develop a global advertising platform in order to deliver adverts more efficiently on platforms other than Rakuten Group services.