TOKYO, Japan, March 12, 2021 – Today, Rakuten announced that Walmart Inc. will invest 16.6 billion yen ($153 million) to accelerate the growth of Rakuten’s ecosystem in Japan and globally. The investment will see Walmart take a 0.9% stake in Rakuten and is in line with other recent strategic equity investments the company has made that enable Walmart to benefit from future growth in a rapidly changing global retail environment.