Rakuten Inc (4755.T) plans to buy U.S. eBook company OverDrive Inc for around 50 billion yen ($415 million), the Nikkei business daily reported, the latest in a spate of overseas acquisitions by the Japanese online retailer.
The company, which will announce the acquisition on Thursday, will turn Ohio-based OverDrive into a wholly owned unit, the Nikkei said.
Rakuten has been on a buying spree in recent years to reduce reliance on its home market.
In October it bought U.S. discount store Ebates.com for $1 billion. Other high-profile acquisitions in recent years include free messaging application Viber for $900 million and Canadian e-book reader Kobo for $315 million.
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