Mitsui, Dentsu Invest In U.S. Internet Companies

Two Japanese companies, Mitsui and Dentsu, Wednesday announced deals with American media companies, marking three Japanese companies in two days to unveil major financial deals with the U.S. media and advertising sectors.

Mitsui & Co., Ltd. said it had invested in Feedster, a developer and distributor of an RSS platform. Feedster, based in San Francisco, boasts an index of over 13 million RSS feeds and blogs. Tokyo-based Mitsui owns businesses in sectors ranging from iron mining and steel production to consumer products and services.

Dentsu, a Tokyo-based advertising firm, announced a strategic partnership with 24/7 Real Media Wednesday, to form K.K. 24-7 Search, a search engine marketing firm that will provide sponsored search services to Dentsu's client base. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed, other than the fact that Dentsu will own a "significant minority interest" in K.K. 24-7 Search. The Dentsu Group is a major player in the global advertising market, with 6,000 clients and annual revenues approaching $3 billion.

Tuesday, LinkShare said it was being purchased for $425 million by Japanese portal and e-commerce firm Rakuten. The deal is billed as the first step in Rakuten's move into the United States to contend in the American market with Yahoo!, which is a major competitor of Rakuten's in the Asian market.

Next story loading loading..