Yahoo! to acquire Maktoob.com
Yahoo! has agreed to acquire Maktoob.com, the Arab world's largest online community, marking the first major investment by a U.S. technology company in a region where internet penetration is still in its infancy. The global internet giant said on Tuesday …
Context & Ripple Effects
Yahoo has been using acquisitions to add web capabilities and audiences, from social-networking service MyBlogLog to its planned Xoopit purchase. Its earlier Right Media deal also tied expansion to online advertising infrastructure.
The Maktoob agreement extends that acquisition playbook to an Arabic-language online community at a point when the article describes internet adoption in the region as still early. It gives Yahoo a locally established destination rather than requiring it to build that audience from scratch.
First-order effects
- Yahoo is positioned to add Maktoob's Arabic-language community to its portfolio, while Maktoob gains the backing and distribution reach of a global internet company.
- The deal makes Yahoo the first named U.S. technology company in the coverage to commit a major investment to this regional online market.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo's larger regional audience gives its advertising operations a stronger basis for selling access to Arabic-speaking users, complementing the ad-market capability it sought through Right Media.
- The move raises the competitive bar for internet portals seeking Arabic-language audiences: locally built communities become strategic acquisition targets as well as standalone destinations.
Third-order effects
- If large internet companies continue entering emerging online markets through established local portals, regional community sites may increasingly be valued for audience access and language-market expertise rather than only for their standalone services.
The trend: Global internet companies are using acquisitions of locally established online communities to enter language-specific markets where web adoption is developing.