Rakuten’s costly junk bonds signal challenges

CEO of Rakuten Hiroshi Mikitani arrives for a State Dinner in honor of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, at the Booksellers Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 10, 2024. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)

Tokyo: After five straight years of losses, billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani’s Rakuten Group Inc is trying to bounce back from a move into mobile that cost it billions of US dollars.

Doing so is proving expensive.