The company will assist with finding employment and giving severance packages in accordance with local laws, techinasia.com reports.
Rakuten has also confirmed it is in the midst of selling off Tarad, an ecommerce website in Thailand it acquired in 2009. The company did not give a specific reason for the closures, except to say that the moves are in line with a new roadmap.
In the place of these marketplaces, it plans to introduce its consumer-to-consumer marketplace mobile app, called Rakuma, in Southeast Asia. The Rakuten group did USD 6.34 billion in consolidated revenue in 2015, up from USD 5.31 billion in the year before. Even as it withdraws in Asia, it looks set to double down on Japan and Taiwan, the two markets where it is performing well.
The potential introduction of Rakuma to Southeast Asia could pose a challenge to Rakuten. Carousell and Shopee are the top C2C marketplaces in the region, which means it might be too late to the game. Rakuten Ventures is also an investor in Carousell, which means a deal could be made to bring the fast rising app into the Rakuten umbrella.
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