Walmart is taking aim at Amazon's Kindle business and diving into the business of selling e-readers, e-books, and audiobooks through a partnership with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten.
As part of the deal, Walmart will start selling Aura-branded e-readers made by Kobo, a division of Rakuten, in stores and online at Walmart.com. Kobo is one of Amazon Kindle's biggest competitors.
Walmart will also offer customers access to Kobo's vast library of nearly six million titles from more than 30,000 publishers, Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Rakuten Kobo, told Business Insider.
Customers will be able to access the e-books and audiobooks through a co-branded Walmart-Kobo app that will be available on smartphones, desktop computers, and Kobo's e-readers.