Maktoob was founded by Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury in 2000 as a free online e-mail service, but grew to encompass online payments under the “cashU” brand and Internet auctions with “souq.com.” These companies will be favorably promoted on the new Yahoo!-owned Maktoob.At the conference, Yahoo’s Senior Vice President and Head of Emerging Markets Keith Nilsson said, “Maktoob is a terrific local brand. Yahoo will be combining its global technology and Maktoob’s local Arabic content.Yahoo! is taking refuge in the Middle East, where it has sealed a deal to buy online portal Maktoob for an undisclosed sum.General Manager Ahmed Nassef is expected to continue to lead Maktoob after the deal is completed, which is likely to happen in the fourth quarter. Keith Nilsson, head of Yahoo’s emerging markets unit in Singapore, will be his boss.Maktoob is actually less popular in the Arab world than its new owner–only in Saudi Arabia is Maktoob ranked higher, according to Maktoob’s Web site. But what counts is the local content, delivered in the Arabic language: Yahoo! says Middle East markets are in the “early stages” of Internet adoption, with only 1% of all online content in Arabic, despite the fact that there are 320 million Arabic speakers worldwide. In other words, the growth potential is promising.The site, which was founded in 2000 after the dot-com rise and fall, serves 22 Arab countries as a vendor for online debit cards, auctions, a marriage-service directory and entertainment but most notably as a search engine.