Japanese billionaire splashes $900m on messaging app Viber

Mobile messaging and call service Viber is being bought for $900m (€657m) by Japanese online retailer Rakuten which is controlled by billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani.

The company will provide a distribution channel for Rakuten’s digital products, Mikitani said at a briefing in Tokyo yesterday.

Rakuten also hopes to create a game platform on closely held Viber, which has 300m users of its instant messaging and free internet phone services.

Rakuten, which wants to have 70% of its transactions come from overseas by as early as 2020, recently bought stakes in Pinterest and digital-book seller Kobo as Mikitani tries to boost sales after missing analyst estimates for two straight years.