Japan\\\'s Rakuten seeking to buy Ebates

TOKYO, Sept 6(AFP) : Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is in the final stage of talks to buy Ebates, a US cash-back shopping service provider, and boost its business abroad, a report said Saturday.

Rakuten is expected to acquire a majority stake in the San Francisco-based company at an estimated price of more than 100 billion yen ($950 million), the business daily Nikkei reported.

Rakuten has a credit-card-linked reward points system in Japan to help retain its customer base.

Lacking a similar setup in the United States, it decided to acquire Ebates instead to lead shoppers looking for cash-back deals to the Rakuten virtual mall, the report said.