Yahoo May Have Acquired Arab Portal Maktoob (Updated)
August 25, 2009 ·Filed Under Technology News
Update: This is now confirmed.
Breaking news from the other side of the world: Yahoo may well have acquired Maktoob, a leading Arab Net portal that encompasses a variety of services including search, e mail, social network, and more. As reported on Arabcrunch (which is unaffiliated with TechCrunch), a press conference announcing the deal appears to be imminent.
We’re still working to confirm the news, but there are indications that the acquisition will be officially announced within minutes. A Twitter explanation called MaktoobBusiness, which we believe to be affiliated with the company, is currently tweeting about a Yahoo press conference, where founders and the GM of Maktoob are attending alongside Yahoo’s emerging market team. Rumors of a deal within Yahoo and Maktoob have been swirling for many months, but details have remained scant. Arabcrunch reports that the acquisition
Maktoob launched in the late 90’s as the first free Arabic e mail service provider. Since soon after it has grown to encompass a variety of services, including payments, gaming, search, and auctions. According to comScore, Maktoob has seen very impressive growth by the last year, growing from 6 million different visitors in June 2008 to 21.8 million a year later. Likewise, its page views have grown from 406 million to 1.1 billion by the same date frame.
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