'Maktoob From Yahoo' focuses on building sales, monetisation |
|
MaktoobMaktoob
From Yahoo will be the transitional branding for the acquired Arabic portal, until the Yahoo-MaktoobMaktoob
brand is finalised in the first half of 2010.This was revealed by Ahmad Nassef, Vice-President of MaktoobMaktoob
Group and General Manager of MaktoobMaktoob
.com, who was announcing details of the most talked about deal between regional portal and an international web leader. The Yahoo-MaktoobMaktoob
deal was celebrated last Thursday following a regional tour lead by Jerry Yang, co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo. The tour, according to Nassef, comprised high-calibre meeting with His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and King Abdullah of Jordan. Nassef said: "Having closed the deal, the key areas we are currently focusing on are building our sales organisation and monetisation.
"We are aiming at a Yahoo-MaktoobMaktoob
brand, but we are keen on having all the Arabic content in place, in terms of Arabising the Yahoo services including its homepage, Yahoo mail, which is the largest e-mail platform in the world and instant messaging."He said: "We currently have two sites in the Middle East - the Yahoo English and MaktoobMaktoob
from Yahoo for Arabic. We have already started working on the Arabisation efforts and I believe that users will start to see the additions gradually within the next few months. "In terms of business development, we are working on building our editorial team and we are forging partnerships with a lot of the regional Arabic content providers including traditional media and video publishers.
The Yahoo-MaktoobMaktoob
deal was expected to be finalised in the last quarter of 2009, that is October, according to officials who spoke to Emirates Business earlier. Nassef said: "We are currently expanding in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab World, mainly in the editorial arenas, targeting the fast-growing online Arab community, which will provide 50 million new users to the web globally.
"It is a challenge and an opportunity for us to tap into an area where Arabic content only comprises one per cent of the global content available and exchanged on the web. We hope to play a key role in changing this situation."
A statement released by Yahoo and MaktoobMaktoob
last week said the new structure will count 200 employees of 300 working for the MaktoobMaktoob
Group. The rest are being accommodated within Jabbar Internet GroupJabbar Internet Group
, a new venture started by MaktoobMaktoob
's founder Samih Toukan.The $20 million (Dh73.4m) Jabbar Internet GroupJabbar Internet Group
houses cashU.com, an online payments company; Tahadi.com, the Arab World's first MMO online games destination; Araby.com, the first Arabic search engine and E-marketing, the region's leading online advertising network. About possible layoffs due to the acquisition, Nassef said: "With acquisitions, some restructuring do take place. The vast majority of the employees will continue under Yahoo. We are looking at the same staffing positions, in addition to seeking new employees for other positions."
MaktoobMaktoob
.com had 35 employees in Dubai before the deal, in addition to about 150 in Jordan. Nassef expected the advertising revenue to continue at the same soaring levels that were witnessed by MaktoobMaktoob
before the deal. "We had 65 per cent growth in ad revenue compared to 2008, by the time we had made the deal with Yahoo, in line with the average of 60 per cent year-on-year growth that we have been seeing over the past years," he said.
"Knowing that the average growth of online advertising in this market is 30 per cent, and ours being twice the market average, we are expecting this momentum to be maintained," said Nassef.
He said: "We have already seen a growth in number of unique users recently reaching 18 million. With the 22 million users already on Yahoo in the region, we are planning to grow more aggressively, utilising the technical and global resources of Yahoo."
"I believe that the Yahoo deal in itself is a sign that the online advertising market has reached a critical mass that would offer a great opportunity to us, advertisers and competitors. This means we are on the right track to attract more advertisers in the region to the web," he said. "What we have been doing now is collating the ad sales platform under Yahoo."
The monetisation aspect, however, will include several other components and platforms, said Nassef. "Online advertising consists of 70 per cent of our revenue."
Other components will include search products, MaktoobMaktoob
Search being part of the acquisition package.
By Dima Hamadeh
© Emirates Business 24/7 2009
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Loading ...Stories
Companies
| Company Name | Country | Industry |
| Consolidated Contractors Company | Overseas | Construction and Design |
| Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Binladin Group | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Electricity Company | Saudi Arabia | Electric Utilities |
| Barwa Real Estate Company | Qatar | Landlords and Developers |
| Roads and Transport Authority - Dubai | UAE | Regulatory and Administrative Bodies |
| Mubadala Development Company | UAE | Investment Firms and Funds |
| Ministry of Health - Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia | Ministries and Municipalities |
| Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company | UAE | Oil |
| Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation | Qatar | Electric Utilities |
Projects
| Project Name | Country | Sector |
| ENEC - Nuclear Power Plant | UAE | Power and Water |
| Abu Dhabi DOT - Abu Dhabi Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Takreer - Ruwais Refinery Expansion | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| Abu Dhabi Ports Company - Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone (KPIZ) | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Aramco/Dow Chemical - Ras Tanura Integrated Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| SATORP - Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) - Smelter Complex - Phase 1 | UAE | Industry |
| Dubai Racing Club - Meydan City - Meydan Racecourse | UAE | Real Estate |
| Dubai RTA - Dubai Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| IGD - Gasco - Habshan 5 Gas Processing Plant | UAE | Oil and Gas |








Loading ...