| Acquired by | Yahoo! |
| Price | $164M |
| Date | 2/10 |
| Terms | Cash |
| Website | maktoob.com |
| Category | Consumer Web |
| Employees | |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Description | Arabic Hosting and Social Network |
| Unattributed, 2006 Tiger Technology Global Management | $5.25M |
Maktoob is an Arabic social network and web 2.0 group.
Maktoob was founded in the year 2000 as the world’s first free Arabic/English Web-based Email service, offering users a platform to send and receive E-mails in either language, regardless of their operating system. In the few years since, Maktoob has strategically grown to become an integrated group of companies and websites. The network of sites includes Maktoob.com, the world’s leading Arab portal with a market share of around 13 million unique users, as well as a range of companies and sites specialized in business and ecommerce in the MENA region.
Although the initial focus was on Arabic/English Web-based email services, Maktoob.com quickly evolved to attract users toward a host of additional services. Maktoob.com’s community services consist of email, discussion forums, news, blogs, chat , matrimonial services, games, mobile services, women content, sports content and a variety of other community and web 2.0 services.
| Website | araby.com |
Araby.com is the first Arabic search engine on the internet offering advanced Arabic-language search capabilities and the latest, comprehensive, and more accurate coverage of the Arabic websites, to users worldwide; relying on the latest search and indexing technologies and the expertise of distinguished technology and language experts.
As a user-focused service, Araby provides a tool to search through specific verticals such as Videos, music, forums, Islam, blogs, and images, packed with a host of attractive features that include Advanced Search and the Arabic keyboard. The continuous efforts at Araby to offer a better service are shaping a new search experience in which the user needs are better understood and served in an intuitive and effective way.
Souq.com was launched in 2006 as the first Arabic auction and online eCommerce marketplace, offering services for individual buyers and sellers as well as businesses to come together as a single trading community. To ensure high level customer experience, Souq.com has coupled its platform with many services that tailored to the local trading environment and suitable to the online user in the region. Backed by Maktoob.com, the largest Arab online community, Souq.com has the pedigree, power and creativity to lead the online eCommerce market in the region. Today Souq.com is a well known brand in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan and has continuously achieved very high growth rates.
