Rakuten to acquire OverDrive

Friday, 20 March 2015 Books+Publishing

Japanese internet services company Rakuten, owner of Kobo, has agreed to acquire library digital content supplier OverDrive for US$410m (A$536m). OverDrive said in a statement that it will operate as a subsidiary of Rakuten USA and work closely with other Rakuten companies, with the deal expected to be finalised in April. OverDrive CEO Steve Potash will continue to lead the company. In addition to Kobo, Rakuten owns the e-commerce service Rakuten.com, instant messaging service Viber, and other consumer and business-focussed services. Head of Rakuten’s global eBook business Takahito Aiki said in a statement: ‘OverDrive’s deep content library and relationships with publishers, libraries, schools, and retailers will allow Rakuten to extend our mission of empowerment to new market segments and accelerate the growth of our digital contents businesses.’

Category: International news