Japan's largest online shopping mall operator, Rakutten, has agreed to buy Linkshare for $425 Million. Rakutten plans to take Linkshare into more overseas markets.

In Japan, Rakuten runs top-ranked sites for online shopping, travel, golf reservations, community and greeting cards. The acquisition, Rakuten's largest yet, is expected to close next month. This is the Tokyo-based company's first expansion in the United States, though the company hinted that it expects to make more.

Linkshare had recently opened up Linkshare Japan, and was pushing hard on expansion in that area.

Stephen Messer, LinkShare's chairman and CEO, and Heidi Messer, president and COO, were also LinkShare's largest shareholders, with a 40-percent stake. Venture capital firm ICG held a 35-percent stake, with Mitsui & Co. and Comcast holding the remaining shares.