Fintech
Rakuten posts $213 million quarterly loss as mobile losses offset fintech growth
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese group Rakuten reported on Tuesday an operating loss of 33.3 billion yen ($213 million) in the January-March quarter, the 15th consecutive quarter in the red as losses at its mobile unit weighed on its robust growth of its fintech business. .
The operating loss was an improvement from a year earlier, when the e-commerce and fintech group posted a loss of 76.2 billion yen, although it was slightly lower than the average loss of 32 billion yen expected by six analysts interviewed by LSEG.
Rakuten’s fintech arm, which includes banking, securities brokerage, credit cards and insurance, achieved its highest-ever operating profit of 39.3 billion yen.
But Rakuten’s mobile business, which has struggled with spiraling development costs and lackluster subscriber growth since its launch in 2020, posted an operating loss of 71.9 billion yen.
($1 = 156.4800 yen)
(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christopher Cushing)