February 17, 2005On February 17, 2005, Rakuten, Inc. announced the new issuance of stock options as voted upon and agreed to at a Board of Directors meeting on February 17, 2005. A resolution to approve the new issuance of stock options will be put forth for a vote at the 8th Annual General Shareholders Meeting on March 30, 2005. The total number of stock options to be issued is 65,000. Each stock option represents one common share. These stock options may be exercised from March 31, 2009 to March 29, 2015 subject to company regulations and policies. The intended beneficiaries of the stock options are our company's Board Directors, corporate auditors, employees and subsidiary company employees and their respective Board Directors. (For full release, please refer to Japanese IR release.)