Dive Brief:

• Tokyo-based e-commerce company Rakuten Thursday said Q4 operating profit rose 73% and Q4 sales rose 51.3% thanks to its acquisition of U.S. cash-back site Ebates.com.

• Rakuten in October bought San Francisco-based Ebates for $1 billion.

• Rakuten is Japan’s largest e-retailer, which is working to move beyond its core home customer base and to compete with Amazon. The company is establishing a low-cost Japanese airline, is a major investor in Pinterest, and reported Q4 growth in its Viber messaging app.

Dive Insight:

Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani has said that its “continuous innovation” will allow the company to make good on his ambitions to take on Amazon in the U.S. and beyond. So far, so good. The company’s Ebates purchase last year has proven to be good for the company, and Viber is growing, though this report shows that it has yet to make a profit. 

With Alibaba on the march, Amazon's ever-presence, and Jet about to launch, it looks like the e-retail business (at least for the giants) is heating up.