Rakuten Logs $213 Million Quarterly Loss as Mobile Losses Negate Fintech Growth

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Rakuten Group on Tuesday logged an operating loss of 33.3 billion yen ($213 million) in the January-March quarter, its 15th straight quarter in the red as losses in its mobile unit weighed on robust growth in its fintech business.

The operating loss is an improvement compared to a year earlier when the e-commerce and fintech group posted a loss of 76.2 billion yen, though it narrowly undershot an average 32 billion yen loss expected by six analysts polled by LSEG.

Rakuten’s fintech arm, which includes banking, securities brokering, credit card and insurance services, achieved its highest-ever operating profit of 39.3 billion yen.

But Rakuten’s mobile business, which has struggled under spiralling build-out costs and lacklustre subscriber growth since its launch in 2020 recorded an operating loss of 71.9 billion yen.

(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christopher Cushing)

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