Japanese online shopping giant buys Viber for £540m

The Japanese online shopping firm which owns Play.com has bought free call and text message app Viber in a deal worth £540m.

The Japanese online shopping firm which owns Play.com has bought free call and text message app Viber in a deal worth £540m.

Rakuten only owns the Canadian company behind the e-reader Kobo but also operates a large e-commerce store in the Japanese market. Rakuten said in a statement that it made the purchase to "strengthen its global platform" and help it in its goal to become the "number one internet services company".

The company has been building what it calls the "Rakuten Ecosystem" which brings together the various services offered by the company and gives a common account to users across all of them, offering a rewards program for purchases.

It is thought the Viber could be used to bolster this offering and also provide new segment of users to tap into. Cyprus-based Viber claims to have 280m registered users around the world, 100m of whom are active each month. It is also expanding rapidly into emerging markets.

Viber allows users to send text messages, make phone calls and share photographs free of charge across mobile devices and desktops and is particularly popular in the Middle East.