CAIRO: Yahoo has signed an agreement to buy Maktoob.com, the leading online community in the Arab world home to more than 16 million users. The move announced Tuesday is likely to help bolster Yahoo's efforts to increase its presence in the Arab world. In a statement from Yahoo on Tuesday, the American company says it will join services with the Arabic company in order provide users with Arabic-specific information and an Arabic versions of Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail. Yahoo has around 44 million users in the Middle East and North Africa region per month, Keith Nilsson, senior vice president, International Emerging Markets, told reporters at a press conference in Dubai to announce the move. “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,” said Nilsson. Google, Yahoo's main rival, has already established its footprint in the region, having launched an Arabic version of the search browser and Gmail. “Access to information and communications tools can positively impact people's lives in many ways,” Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said in a statement, “and with the acquisition of Maktoob.com and our investment in the region, the Arab world will soon get a Yahoo experience in Arabic with relevant local language content, programming and services.” In Egypt, the move has been seen as optimistic, as one independent web designer said it will “create more competition, which can only be a good thing.” It is the hope of many web employees that the growth of the Internet will enable better and wider access to the Internet, which in recent years has grown considerably throughout the country and the region. The two companies are also touting the purchase as an opportunity for advertisers to access a new market. Yahoo cited statistics from Madar Research, which predicts that spending on Internet advertising will rise by 35 to 40 percent in the Arab region this year. “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,” Ahmed Nassef, general manager of Maktoob.com, said in a statement. “In addition, advertisers will be able to leverage the vast reach of the newly combined audiences to effectively market to consumers across the region.” The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, after which Maktoob.com will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. BM
