Rakuten acquires Buy.com

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Leading online mall operator Rakuten has announced the acquisition of Buy.com Inc in a deal worth $250 million. The announcement is part of the company’s initiative to establish itself internationally and represents its first foray into the U.S. market. Buy.com had revenues of $62.5 million in 2009 and a client base of 14 million for its e-commerce operations.

Rakuten had recently announced a partnership with Baidu to launch a virtual shopping market in China and is also actively scouting for opportunities in Europe and other markets. Rakuten posted net income of 56.6 billion yen ($617.6 million) on revenues of 298 billion yen ($3.2 billion) in 2009.