Factbox-Rakuten Group’s losses, debt burden and financing efforts By Reuters

By Anton Bridge

TOKYO (Reuters) – Rakuten Group is a Japanese conglomerate centred on an e-commerce website – Rakuten Ichiba – and a suite of online financial services companies including banking, credit card, securities and insurance arms.

Here are some details about its deeply troubled mobile business, the group’s operating losses, debt burden and its efforts to shore up its finances.

RAKUTEN MOBILE

Japan’s No. 4 mobile network was launched in April 2020. As of Sept. 30 it has 5.2 milion subscribers and about 2.5% share of the world’s third-largest telecom market. It had 351 billion yen ($2.4 billion) in annual sales last year and accounts for 18% of Rakuten’s overall revenue.

DEBT AND LOSSES

The mobile unit’s build-out costs spiralled, financed largely by corporate bonds. Rakuten Group currently has total debt of more than 1.5 trillion yen, of which 800 billion yen is due to be redeemed by the end of 2025.

Rakuten has posted 13 straight quarters of operating losses due to its troubled mobile unit, resulting in cumulative losses for the group…