Rakuten Group, Inc. is a Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997. Centered around Rakuten Ichiba, its business-to-many ecommerce platform and one of the largest e-commerce sites in the world, its businesses include financial services utilizing financial technology, as well as digital content and communications services such as messaging app Viber, e-book distributor Kobo, and Japan's fourth mobile carrier Rakuten Mobile.