Maktoob Inc. (Arabic: مكتوب) is an Arab Internet services company, founded in Amman, Jordan known for being the first Arabic/English email service provider. "Maktoob" in Arabic means "letter", "written", or "Destiny". Maktoob today has more than 280 employees with offices in Amman, Dubai, Cairo, Riyadh, and Kuwait. On Aug 25, 2009, Yahoo! Inc. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Maktoob.com

History

Maktoob was founded in 1998 by Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury who were able to introduce a free email service with Arabic support for emails when no other free email service had such support. They also helped users who did not have Arabic Keyboards or browsers that support Arabic to send and receive emails by using a virtual keyboard which was done in Java, and using Java applets that had better Arabic support.

The initial flourish of Maktoob and its large user base led the company to create several services and content channels for Arab users, many of which were not found previously in Arabic format. Chatting, Greeting Cards, and simple content channels were upon the first to be developed internally. Since then, Maktoob diversified its services through both acquisitions and internal development to have close to 40 different channels and services.

The success of the Maktoob portal drove the company to start new online businesses. cashU was founded to address the issue of electronic payments in the region, Souq.com as an auctions and marketplace; www.tahadi.com was founded to provide the best MMO/MMORPG games for the Middle East internet users, Araby.com an Arabic Search engine; Maktoob Research an online Research service and www.Sukar.com the first and biggest online private shopping club in the Middle East.

Abraaj Capital acquisition

In June 2005, the UAE-based private equity house Abraaj Capital purchased 40% of the company shares in a USD 5.2 million buyout deal. The rationale for such an acquisition (according to Abraaj's website) is 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." So far, Maktoob has not revealed any net revenue figures, although claiming to make a profit for the past few years. In December 2007, Abraaj sold its share to Tiger Global Management with an Internal rate of return of 75%.

Maktoob-owned sites and services

Yahoo! Maktoob Blog: Arabic Blog Service Yahoo! Maktoob As7ab Maktoob: The first Arabic Social Networking service Yahoo! Maktoob News:News Service Yahoo! Maktoob Research: the Arab world's largest online marketing research business Yahoo! Maktoob Bentelhalal: Marriage portal Yahoo! Maktoob Travel: Arabic Community Travel Portal Yahoo! Maktoob Games: Casual Gaming with Arabic support

References

External links

Maktoob Group Site

Abraaj Capital

Maktoob CEO Interview

Category:Companies established in 1998 Category:Computer companies of Jordan Category:Internet service providers Category:Internet search engines

Playername	Amir Sayoud
Dateofbirth	August 31, 1990
Cityofbirth	Guelma
Countryofbirth	Algeria
Height	164 cm
Position	Attacking Midfielder
Currentclub	Al-Ahly
Clubnumber	21
Years1	2009-
Clubs1	Al-Ahly
Caps1	2
Goals1	0
Years2	2010
Clubs2	→ Al Arabi (loan)
Caps2	6
Goals2	1
Totalcaps	7
Totalgoals	1
Nationalyears1	2009-
Nationalteam1	Algeria U23
Nationalcaps1	1
Nationalgoals1	0
Club-update	08:41, 17 November 2010
Nationalteam-update	08:41, 17 November 2010

Amir Sayoud () (born August 31, 1990 in Guelma, Algeria) is an Algerian footballer currently playing as an attacking midfielder for Egyptian side Al-Ahly. He was previously loaned to Al Arabi Kuwait in the Kuwaiti Premier League.

Career

Youth career

Sayoud began his career in 2002 in the youth ranks of local club Nasr El Fedjoudj. He then played for Rapid de Guelma and ES Guelma before moving to ES Sétif. While at Sétif, he saw a television commercial for try outs being held in Alger for the 'Play Maker Academy' in Ismaïlia, Egypt. Of the 80 people trying out, Sayoud made the top 5 and was sent to train with 108 other players from the Arab world in Ismaïlia. After four months of training, only 35 players were chosen to stay, with Sayoud being among them. The remaining players continued training and participating in matches with Sayoud being chosen as the top player among the group. He was approached by a number of clubs including Al-Ahly, Ismaily, Al-Ahli Dubai and Al Ain. Al-Ahly were set to loan him out to Alexandria-based club Ittihad as the club was going to sign Moroccan striker Abdessalam Benjelloun and the Egyptian Premier League sets a three-foreigner player quota for every team. With Gilberto and Francis Doe, the signature of Benjelloun would put the club over the limit. However, Al-Ahly decided to cancel the deal with Benjelloun and registered Sayoud in the squad list for the 2009-10 season. He made his debut with the first team in the second league game against El Geish on September 11, 2009 coming on as a substitute for Francis Doe in the 75th minute. After only 10 minutes in his debut, he gained his first yellow card. After his debut, he commented on the important event in his playing career :

Al Arabi

On January 26, 2010, Sayoud was loaned out by Al-Ahly to Kuwaiti-side Al Arabi until the end of the season.

Return to Al-Ahly

At the end of the season, Sayoud returned to Al-Ahly where he received the number 31 shirt. On 4 November, 2010, Sayoud played his second match for Al-Ahly against ENPPI Club as a substitute for Hossam Ghaly at the half-time.

References

Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:Algerian footballers Category:Association football midfielders Category:Al-Ahli (Dubai) players Category:Al Arabi Kuwait players Category:Al-Ahly players Category:ES Sétif players Category:Expatriate footballers in Egypt Category:Expatriate footballers in Kuwait Category:Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Category:Algerian expatriate footballers Category:Algerian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Category:People from Guelma Category:Algeria under-23 international footballers