As of August 25, 2009, web portal/search engine/social media giant Yahoo acquired the most popular Arab Internet company Maktoob reported the LA Times, NY Times, etc. According to TechCrunch, rumors of an $85 million acquisition have been building for months. The acquisition provides Yahoo with a much needed market presence in the Arab region. Yahoo is betting that as the digital divide narrows and Internet penetration increases globally, the Arab online population will grow exponentially. The NY Times quoted Keith Nilsson (Yahoo SVP for international emerging markets) as saying, “We think this region is just beginning to take off and that there will be an acceleration of Internet penetration, more users and advertisers in the coming years, so we plan to invest more in the region.”
According to Ahmed Nassef (GM of Maktoob.com), “Internet users in the Arab world will have access to Yahoo!’s vast content portfolio, as well as world-class communications products, which will be available in Arabic for the first time. In addition, advertisers will be able to leverage the vast reach of the newly combined audiences to effectively market to consumers across the region.”
Based out of Amman, Jordan, Maktoob launched in 1998 the world’s first Arabic-English webmail service that could operate off of non-Arabic enabled operating systems. Today, Maktoob boasts more than 15 million unique users. This site has rapidly become the largest Arab online community. The launch of Maktoob mail was a major milestone for Arabic speaking Internet users because its platforms allowed those without Arabic enabled keyboards or browsers to send and receive email using a virtual keyboard enabled with Java applets. Currently Maktoob’s traffic ranking is 147 on Alexa.com. About 30% of its users access the site from Saudi Arabia, 20% from Egypt, 7% from Algeria, 5% from Libya and 5% more from the United Arab Emirates. The founders have stated that they want Maktoob to be a democratic place for news and exchange, but the company must be careful how they present themselves so as not to be blocked by nearby Arab countries with large markets but more traditionalist political standards than Jordan. “If our chat rooms aren’t democratic, people won’t use them. However, if people insult the king of Saudi Arabia (where Maktoob has 750,000 users), the site could be blocked in the country. But at the same time, if for example the government of Syria comes to Maktoob stating: ‘We will not block you if you allow us to monitor your e-mail, Maktoob still cannot accept this because we will lose credibility with our users,” says co-founder Samih Toukan.
Tech Crunch points out that once the deal is complete in the fourth quarter, new products rolling out as of next year will be cobranded with Yahoo and Maktoob. Several key products in Maktoob’s portfolio will not be included in the deal. The e-bay-like Souq, prepaid payment system CashU, and the Araby search engine will instead become part of Jabbar Internet Group, which Tech Crunch believes may be headed by one of Maktoob’s founders.
