The people
What they build
Open roles via the TechTO Job Board
Working at Rakuten Kobo
Browse open roles across the community on the TechTO Job Board — Canada’s most connected tech network. Rakuten Kobo’s roles show up here whenever they post.
Open roles on the TechTO Job Board ↗Or their own careers page: kobo.com/careers ↗Jobs live on jobs.techto.org — the only structured source. We link to it rather than scraping career sites, so the board is always the source of truth.
On the TechTO stage
Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Rakuten Kobo ↗
About
Indigo Books and Music launched a cloud e-reading service called Shortcovers in February 2009, renamed it Kobo that December and spun it out as an independent company. Kobo sold e-readers and ebooks internationally almost from the start, which is what Michael Tamblyn came to TechTO in 2016 to talk about — recruiting, culture and different markets when you go global on day one. Rakuten agreed in November 2011 to buy all of Kobo's shares for US$315 million in cash, closing in January 2012. Tamblyn joined at the founding as chief content officer and is now president and CEO, as well as a senior executive officer of Rakuten.
Backers
Spun out of Indigo Books and Music in 2009; acquired by Rakuten for US$315 million in cash, agreed November 2011 and closed January 2012. It is now a Rakuten subsidiary.
Quick answers
Where did Kobo come from?
Indigo Books and Music. It launched the service as Shortcovers in February 2009, renamed it Kobo in December 2009 and spun it out as its own company.
Who owns Kobo?
Rakuten, the Japanese technology group. It agreed to buy all of Kobo's shares for US$315 million in November 2011 and closed the deal in January 2012.
Who runs it?
Michael Tamblyn, president and CEO, who has been on the executive team since 2009 and was originally chief content officer.