Now that the dust around Yahoo’s search business has subsided, Yahoo can once again focus on the thing it does well: its portal business. They’ve officially announced they will be acquiring Arabic internet portal Maktoob, extending their influence over some 16.5 million people; Yahoo calls this its “biggest geographic expansion in years.”
This is not just an acquisition of another web portal; it’s Yahoo moving into a completely different and new market, which means translating Yahoo’s services into Arabic. From the official Yahoo corporate blog:
“Initially, we’ll plan to introduce Arabic versions of Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Search, and our homepage and then eventually local versions of properties like News, Sports, and Finance. We’ll also focus on creating content and services tailored to the region. No other global company has made this kind of investment in local relevance for the Arab world.“
The financial terms of the transaction, which is to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2009, were not disclosed. Read the official press release here.