UPDATE 10/16 10:00 AM ET: Ex-Rakuten CEO Tareq Amin has announced on X (the site formerly known as Twitter) that his next role will be in Saudi Arabi.
"Delighted to announce my next mission: contributing to the incredible push for a digital revolution in Saudi Arabia! I'm thrilled to lend my expertise and passion to help shape a cutting-edge digital society," Amin said in a post.
Amin, the cloud native champion of Rakuten, abruptly left the company in early August. Our original story follows.
Rakuten Group chairman Mickey Mikitani took over as CEO of Rakuten Symphony effective Monday, August 7, the group revealed in a statement. Rakuten also said that Rakuten Mobile CTO Sharad Sriwastawa was appointed acting president of Rakuten Symphony, while taking on the co-CEO role at Rakuten Mobile and remaining as the CTO. Which is quite a full plate!
Amin has been with Rakuten since 2018, initially serving as CTO of the company's mobile divison. He has served as CEO of Rakuten Symphony since mid-2021 and co-CEO of Rakuten Mobile since April 2022.
The executive helped Rakuten to successfully establish the world’s first end-to-end fully virtualised cloud-native mobile network. Amin also pioneered the use of Open RAN at the operator.
Much like Dish in the U.S., however, the greenfield operator has to spend to build out its network and recently said it wouldn’t become profitable until sometime in 2024.
"I have always pursued my passions and lived my dreams. In any role I have taken, I have put my heart and soul into achieving business goals and objectives. This does not come without hard work and sacrifices. And now, as I embark on this new phase, I am eager to channel my energy and attention towards creating cherished moments and nurturing bonds that matter most in life – my children," Amin wrote in his LinkedIn post (below.)