LinkShare to be Rakuten's Biggest Acquisition Ever

Japanese Internet shopping portal Rakuten is buying Internet Capital Group partner Linkshare Corporation for about $425 million in cash. Rakuten is very well known in Japan for its on-line shopping, travel, golf reservations, community and greeting cards sites. This will be the company's largest acquisition to date. "We are extremely pleased that LinkShare has agreed to be acquired by Rakuten under the proposed terms," said ICG chairman and CEO Walter Buckley. "Since we acquired a stake in LinkShare in 1998, we have strongly believed in LinkShare's potential to be a market leader, the strength and vision of its management team and the value it delivers to merchants and affiliates, added Buckley. "We view this event as a great illustration of the ICG model, as it demonstrates the full cycle of owning, building and realizing the value of one of our Core partner companies." AP murdok. Visit murdok for the