Yahoo! Maktoob () was an online services company founded in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

(

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

). Maktoob.com was known as the first ArabicEnglish

email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

service provider. In 2009,

Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...

acquired Maktoob.com, making it Yahoo!'s official arm in the

MENA The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

region. As of 31 January 2023, Yahoo! Maktoob has been shut down; and therefore no longer publishes content.

History

Early days

Maktoob was founded in 1999 by Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury, offering a

webmail Webmail (or web-based email) is an email service that can be accessed using a standard web browser. It contrasts with email service accessible through a specialised email client software. Additionally, many internet service providers (ISP) prov ...

service featuring Arabic language support—a unique feature at the time when other free email services lacked such capability. They facilitated users without

Arabic keyboard The Arabic keyboard () is the Arabic keyboard layout used for the Arabic alphabet#Keyboards, Arabic alphabet. All computer Arabic keyboards contain both Arabic alphabet, Arabic letters and Latin script, Latin letters, the latter being necessary for ...

s or browsers supporting Arabic script to send and receive emails by implementing a

virtual keyboard A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows the Input device, input of characters without the need for physical keys. Interaction with a virtual Computer keyboard, keyboard happens mostly via a touchscreen interface, but can also take p ...

using

Java applet Java applets were applet, small applications written in the Java (programming language), Java programming language, or another programming language that Compiled language, compiles to Java bytecode, and delivered to users in the form of Ja ...

Abraaj Capital acquisition

In June 2005, the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

-based private equity house Abraaj Capital purchased 40% of the company shares in a $5 million deal. The rationale for such an acquisition (according to Abraaj's website) was that Maktoob has a large user base (claimed to be more than 4 million) and, according to marketing literature, "a dominant online payment option cashU and a strong brand name. It has established the first Arab online auction site Souq.com which will benefit from leveraging the large community network." In April 2006, Maktoob acquired 80% of the popular Arab sports website Sport4ever.com. In December 2007, Abraaj sold its share to

Tiger Global Management Tiger Global Management, LLC (often referred to as Tiger Global and formerly known as Tiger Technology) is an American investment firm founded by Chase Coleman III, a former Tiger Management employee under Julian Robertson, in March 2001. It ma ...

with an

internal rate of return Internal rate of return (IRR) is a method of calculating an investment's rate of return. The term ''internal'' refers to the fact that the calculation excludes external factors, such as the risk-free rate, inflation, the cost of capital, or fin ...

of 75%.

Yahoo!

In 2009, Maktoob was sold to Yahoo! for $164 million. In January 2011, email users were migrated from the @maktoob.com domain to the @yahoo.com domain. In October 2014, Yahoo! announced its intention to let go half of its staff in Dubai, some immediately, others three months later. And it announced in December 2015 the closure of its office in Dubai, its last office in the MENA region. The move was an attempt to "streamline" Yahoo's international operations. The Yahoo! acquisition of Maktoob remains one of the biggest acquisitions in the region. Yahoo!'s money made it possible for Souq.com to develop and reach a $1 billion valuation.

Activity

Yahoo! Maktoob provides the following online services: News (''Yahoo! Maktoob News''), sports news (''Yahoo! Maktoob Sport''), a blogging platform (''Yahoo! Maktoob Blog''), a social network (''Yahoo! Maktoob As7ab Maktoob''), a bilingual online research community (''Yahoo! Maktoob Research''), a marriage portal (''Yahoo! Maktoob Bentelhalal''), a travel portal (''Yahoo! Maktoob Travel'') and a casual gaming platform (''Yahoo! Maktoob Games'').

References

{{Yahoo! Inc. Maktoob 1998 establishments in Jordan Internet properties established in 1998 Internet properties disestablished in 2023 Computer companies of Jordan Arabic-language websites Internet service providers Defunct internet search engines Discontinued Yahoo! services Yahoo! international Companies based in Dubai Yahoo! acquisitions