Rakuten, Inc. is a Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo. It was founded in 1997 by Japanese businessman Hiroshi Mikitani. Its B2M E-Commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan. The company's other businesses include financial services ranging from online banking to fintech, digital content and communications services including messaging app Viber, e-book distributor Kobo, and Japan's fourth mobile carrier, Rakuten Mobile, to over one billion members around the world, and operates in 29 countries and regions, while its revenues totaled US$7.2 billion with operating profits of about US$347.9 million as of 2016. As of June 2017, Rakuten reported it had a total of 14,826 employees worldwide.It is often referred to as "the Amazon of Japan".