TOKYO -- Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten on Monday logged a net profit of 72.6 billion yen ($640 million) for the nine months ended September, up 64% on the year, backed by valuation gains on its investment in the ride-sharing business.
The announcement came after its Chinese peer Alibaba Group Holding on Saturday recorded a gross merchandise volume of 168.2 billion yuan ($25.3 billion) on Singles' Day which fell on Nov. 11, about 40% above levels reached a year earlier. Rakuten's gross online merchandise sales in Japan for the nine months fell short of Alibaba's one-day sales, at 2.44 trillion yen.