employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Rakuten Kobo

Part of Rakuten

Is this your company?

Rakuten Kobo reviews

4.2

83% would recommend to a friend

(261 total reviews)
avatar

Michael Tamblyn

88% approve of CEO

82% positive business outlook

Rakuten Kobo has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 261 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Rakuten Kobo employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

261 reviews
1.0
Mar 20, 2018

Inconsistent and disconnected management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Easy work life balance Great competent people

Cons

Cognitive dissonance between strategic plan and execution Very poor management team in certain department HR and management endorse unacceptable behavior towards team members, even against Rakuten's mandatory principles.

avatar
Rakuten Kobo Response
8y
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We recently announced a new company structure, creating lean focused teams to improve collaboration and ownership so we can better execute on our strategic plan. We do not condone unacceptable behaviour from management. We are very committed to providing a professional, respectful and productive work environment for all. 360 Feedback assessments are being launched to complement management training and coaching. We wish you all the best moving forward!
1.0
Jan 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work location is flexible (which is one of the main reasons people put up with it.)

Cons

The problem with this company is that it often feels like a cult. People seem to be completely fine or completely oblivious to the fact that none of the work being done in any of the groups (marketing, product, data (esp. data!), etc...) are of any importance. You have a lot of low-skilled people in the company which consists of people that have either been repeatedly fired / quit other companies or people that couldn't get jobs anywhere else and end up here at Kobo. Smart people who have joined Kobo usually leave within a year or less than that realizing what it is. But they will do things like parties and external events, and work from home, and free snacks and drinks in the office so people waste years and years there doing nothing but somehow are okay with these things. The other problem is that if you hang around Kobo too long, it will taint your skillset and it will be very hard to get a job at a better place. They are all day running old technologies and old ideas and leadership has no idea what they are doing in this field so they are constantly behind other companies or taking months to solve something that should take a few hours. My biggest annoyance is that promotions and salary are determined by how much the upper management "likes you" and how much you suck up to everyone there. I would say that NONE of the promotions especially in the past 2-3 years have been deserved, they are all inside inside jobs. Lots of low-skilled and unknowledgeable people throughout this company at all levels (especially the joker CEO who rather spend his time on social media than actually doing any work of significance) that constantly pat themselves on the back. Entire lives can and will be wasted here with nothing to show for it.

avatar
Rakuten Kobo Response
5mo
Thank you for your feedback regarding your work experience, and we're genuinely sorry to hear it was not positive. We value all input as it helps us improve and will explore how we might do better.
Viewing 34 - 36 of 261 Reviews

Glassdoor has 328 Rakuten Kobo reviews submitted anonymously by Rakuten Kobo employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Rakuten Kobo is right for you.