Rakuten Marketing is an affiliate marketing service provider. The company, in 2005, claimed it was the largest pay-for-performance affiliate marketing network on the Internet.

LinkShare was founded in 1996 by Stephen Messer and Heidi Messer. The company is headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Tampa, Tokyo and London. In 2005, Rakuten acquired LinkShare for US$425 million in cash, making LinkShare a wholly owned U.S. division of Rakuten, Inc., a Japanese shopping portal.

Rakuten LinkShare was re-branded to Rakuten Affiliate Network in 2014.

At Rakuten Advertising, our mission is to make the Internet a better place. A place that brings relevance, value and enjoyment to everyone involved—advertisers, publishers and consumers alike.

How do we do it? By never slowing down. By constantly innovating. By combining Rakuten’s owned and operated media with our pioneering artificial intelligence, and rich consumer insights. By connecting global brands to our industry-leading publisher network. By using game-changing strategy, shaped by decades of learning, to disrupt the industry as we know it.