Japanese Internet portal Rakuten has agreed to acquire affiliate marketing firm LinkShare for $425 million in cash.

In Japan, Rakuten runs top-ranked sites for online shopping, travel, golf reservations, community and greeting cards. The acquisition, Rakutens largest yet, is expected to close next month. This is the Tokyo-based companys first expansion in the United States, though the company hinted that it expects to make more.

LinkShares performance-based marketing expertise across affiliate, search, and e-mail capabilities provides Rakuten with an excellent first step to launch our U.S. operations and continue our international expansion Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. We can leverage LinkShare’s client relationships and technology advantages worldwide, so that LinkShare will be able to achieve significant growth in the future.

This change looks as though it will have a positive outcome…we will watch with interest as we move forward.

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