Dive Brief:

• Japanese e-commerce player Rakuten Inc, is acquiring communications app company Viber Media Inc for $900 million.

• Viber is one of the top five most downloaded smartphone apps and is popular in the U.S. and other countries.

• The deal adds 300 million users to Rakuten’s 200 million.

Dive Insight:

Rakuten Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, Japan’s fourth wealthiest billionaire, has been open about wanting to challenge the supremacy of e-commerce retail giants like Amazon and eBay. With this latest acquisition, he more than doubles Rakuten’s number of users, making it that much easier to get closer to transforming that dream into reality. With Amazon a little shaky in its outlook right now, the likes of Mikitani and Rakuten may have their chance.