Remember Buy.com, the Orange County e-commerce company that sold everything from socks to computers?
The 20-year-old Aliso Viejo online retailer, called Rakuten USA since 2013, is pulling up stakes and heading north.
Rakuten will lay off 73 people by the end of March at its Orange County headquarters as it moves to Silicon Valley. The layoff notices were filed this month in a worker adjustment notice to the state.
“This is a strategic move, as Rakuten is making a significant investment in bringing Rakuten.com to Silicon Valley, where the business can be better aligned with other Rakuten USA companies,” spokesperson Patrick Dixon said in a statement.
Rakuten USA, with offices in San Mateo, says it offers more than 18 million products online and has served more than 20 million customers.
The Tokyo-based company, considered the Japanese equivalent to Amazon, first landed in the U.S. after it bought Buy.com in 2010 for $250 million. At the time, Rakuten was on an ambitious plan to compete with Amazon, expanding into the U.S. and across Europe.
Recently the company announced plans to contract its online presence, pulling out of three European countries (the UK, Spain and Austria).
Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans
