Mickey's Voice
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Blog
The engine of innovation is freedom
Over more than 25 years of building Rakuten into a global innovation company, one truth has remained constant: Genuine innovation can only flourish to its full potential in an environment of freedom. True innovation rarely emerges from top-down directives or rigid hierarchical structures. Instead, breakthrough ideas come from environments where diverse voices can speak freely, where conventional t…
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Betting on the future: Mikitani talks Mobile and AI at Rakuten Technology Conference 2024
At the recent Rakuten Technology Conference in Tokyo, company Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani took to the podium to share Rakuten’s innovation backstory and offer a bold vision for its future with engineers around the globe. “When we started Rakuten in 1997, some of you were not even born,” he joked. “Everybody thought the internet was going to be very, very powerful.” Eve…
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At Rakuten, we climb mountains
In the world of tech, we often talk about “seeing around the corner.” It’s a phrase that encapsulates the forward thinking required to anticipate market trends, emerging technologies and evolving consumer needs. But how does one cultivate this forward-thinking mindset? At Rakuten, we practice an unconventional method: we climb mountains. Every autumn, Rakuten’s global leadership team embarks on a…
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Revolution Next: Mobile networks in the AI age
The internet revolution truly began around 1995, when web browsers began to take off. Everyone was talking about online business in Japan, but nobody wanted to take the risk. I left my banking job and created the world’s first B2B2C online marketplace – an idea nobody believed in at the time – and became part of the first generation of internet entrepreneurs. Today, only a handful of those entrepr…
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Empowering tomorrow’s leaders: Overcoming the status quo to achieve success
April marks the season of new beginnings in Japan – and for many recent university graduates across the country, the start of their professional careers. On April 1, 2024, Rakuten welcomed its new graduate employees at Rakuten Crimson House, its global headquarters in Tokyo. Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani greeted them personally, taking the opportunity to share advice and welcome t…
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Open RAN for everyone: Rakuten continues to empower a more open, innovative telecom industry
Mickey Mikitani, Chairman & CEO, Rakuten Group Recently, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we made what I believe was one of the most disruptive announcements of the conference: Rakuten Symphony is going to start licensing its mobile software to anyone who wants to use it. Rakuten operates more than 70 different businesses around the world. We are a leader in e-commerce, travel, advertisi…
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We must embrace AI, but we also need to stay human
Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group 2024 is the year Rakuten evolves into an AI empowerment company. At last month’s Rakuten Ichiba New Year Conference, I spoke to over 8,000 merchants from across the country about the future of Japan’s largest online shopping mall. About 30 years ago, many of these merchants were selling their wares in physical stores, or through cat…
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Mickey's Voice
Generative AI, new milestones and future growth: Reflections on last year’s achievements and looking ahead to 2024
Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group On behalf of the Rakuten Group, please allow me to extend our heartfelt condolences and offer our deepest sympathies to all those who lost their lives and were affected by the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake on January 1. We join with the international community in praying for a swift recovery for the region. Rakuten Mobile is working to provide supp…
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1&1’s mobile network launch is a milestone for telecom – and a major step forward in Rakuten’s mission to transform the industry
Left to right: Mickey Mikitani (Rakuten Group, Chairman and CEO), Daniela Schmitt (Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate), Dr. Volker Wissing (Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport), Ralph Dommermuth (1&1 AG, CEO) By Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group Europe’s most modern mobile network is now fully…
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