Japan's Rakuten posts $564 million loss in Q1 on mobile loss

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese e-commerce and fintech giant Rakuten Group Inc on Friday posted an operating loss of 76.2 billion yen ($564.24 million) for the first three months of 2023, dragged down by its money-losing mobile phone business.

Rakuten posted a January-March loss of 102.7 billion yen for the mobile business.

Rakuten founder and CEO Hiroshi "Mickey" Mikitani originally outlined plans to becoming Japan's fourth major carrier, promising to create a low-cost nationwide mobile network by using cloud-based software and commoditised hardware.

However, the company has burned cash funding the build-out, with analysts flagging Rakuten's struggle to take market share from cash-rich incumbents known for high-quality networks.

($1 = 135.0500 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing)