Rakuten, Inc. (hereinafter “the Company”) announces that on August 31, Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman and CEO resigned as a director of Lyft, Inc. (hereinafter “Lyft”). Mikitani has served as a director of Lyft since the Company invested in Lyft in 2015. He decided to resign in order to devote his time to the management of the Company under the uncertain environment of COVID-19.
Lyft shares held by the Company had previously been accounted for using the equity method. However, with this change, the shares will be measured at fair value through profit or loss from the third quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2020. The Company will record a loss of approximately JPY 25 billion in the third quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2020 because of this change in accounting method, as share of losses of investments in associates and joint ventures.