Mail.ru Group, a leading Russian Internet group listed on the London Stock Exchange, is in negotiations with Internet Invest Group, Ukraine’s largest web hosting service provider, for the rights to the mail.ua domain name. The deal is expected to be completed at the end of this year or early next year.
This domain will be used to offer Mail.ru webmail and other services in the Ukrainian language.
Mail.ru is already one of the most popular sites in Ukraine, with an audience of 7.26 million monthly visitors in September this year, up 33.4% from the same period in 2010. The acquisition of the mail.ua domain is intended to expand the horizons of brand perception, as .ua domain names are more familiar to Ukrainian internet users.
Currently the proprietor of the Mail.ua domain hosts an e-mail service with about 500,000 registered users and 111,000 visitors monthly, Internet Invest Group President Alexander Olshansky told Kommersant.
This year, the Ukrainian online advertising market is expected to grow 38% to $48.5 million.
Source: Kommersant
