Japanese E-commerce Company Rakuten Buys Spain's Wuaki.tv
Rakuten is entering the Spanish market in a big way. The Tokyo, Japan-based e-commerce company has so far been know for providing consumer and business services such as travel, securities, and banking. Today, it announced that it has acquired Wuaki.tv, a Spanish company that offers streaming video and video-on-demand.
Wuaki.tv is based in Barcelona, Spain, and streams online video to smart TVs. It has created partnerships with Hollywood studios, local studios, and TV manufacturers.
This is actually Rakuten's fourth European acquisition in the last two years, although its first move into Spain. It will use Wuaki.tv's video distribution to extend its existing digital service offerings. The company's chairman and CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani, notes that online video is still in its infancy, especially on mobile devices and e-readers.
"We are already seeing a significant uptake of services due to increasing numbers of connected TVs and mobile connected devices and believe that, ultimately, online video will replace traditional pay-for-TV services," says Jacinto Roca, founder and CEO of Wuaki.tv. "This agreement will allow us to expand the successful Wuaki.tv offering, both in terms of services and geographical reach."
Neither company disclosed the terms of the acquisition.
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