Rakuten chairman and CEO Hiroshi (Mickey) Mikitani (pictured) resigned as a director of taxi-booking company Lyft as the e-commerce giant revealed it will book a JPY25 billion ($236.4 million) loss on its investment in the business.

The company is Lyft’s largest investor, with a stake of just more than 10 per cent. In a statement, Mikitani said he was stepping down from the board to devote time to the management of the company due to uncertainty caused by Covid-19 (coronavirus).

Rakuten said it will record the write-down in its Q3 earnings due to changing from equity method accounting to measuring the investment at fair market value based on profit or loss.

Lyft was listed on the US-based Nasdaq in March 2019.

Rakuten recorded increases in profit and revenue during Q2, though operating loss at its mobile business rose.