Cari Internet Sdn. Bhd. is a Malaysian company founded in 1996. It operates the eponymous website Cari.com.my, the country's first search engine and web portal, along with online florist Flowers.com.my and web hosting service Onnet.[1][2] Cari Forum, a multilingual internet forum, is a particularly popular portion of its website, and has been reported to be Malaysia's largest internet forum.[3]

The word cari (IPA: /tʃari/) means "search" in the Malay language.

Business development

Cari was founded by Liew Chew-Keat (Chinese: 柳树吉).[4] It was unique for its early provision of trilingual services: English, Malay, and Chinese.[2] After its founding, Cari grew to become one of the country's top ten web portals, while maintaining tight control over costs. It received RM2.5 million (US$657,808) in venture capital funding from AKN.com in 2000 in exchange for a 15% stake, which was later transferred to Swansoft Technologies. The bursting of the dot-com bubble actually aided Cari's cash flow, allowing it to cut advertising spending from RM450,000 in 2000, to just RM50,000 in 2001. However, it was still not profitable in 2001.[5]

In 2003, Cari Internet announced the rollout of its in-house developed electronic commerce platform, which partnered with local payment system Commerce Payment Sdn. Bhd.[2] In 2008, it announced a partnership with local restaurant search startup FoodStreet, founded by local technologist and foodie Aidan Lee.[6]

Legal disputes

In 2000, Cari Internet had a legal dispute with Catcha.com and considered suing the latter for copyright infringement.[1] In 2008, Cari Internet was taken to court over postings made in its forum which allegedly defamed a manager of the Malaysian Chinese newspaper Kwong Wah Yit Poh.[7] Cari had refused to answer three letters from the manager alleging defamation and demanding that Cari disclose the identities of the posters who made the comments. The High Court at George Town ordered Cari to disclose the requested information and pay court costs for the complainant.[8]

Traffic and rankings

According to Alexa Internet's rankings, cari.com.my was the 144th-most popular website among Malaysia's 74.6% visitors in March 2018.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Lee, Wendy (24 May 2000), Cari.com to legally take on Catcha.com?, ZDNet, archived from the original on 25 September 2011, retrieved 8 July 2011
  2. ^ a b c Chooi, Yew Tzen (13 March 2003), "Cari to offer e-commerce solution", New Straits Times, retrieved 8 July 2011
  3. ^ "網民埋怨治安差 [Internet users complain of poor public safety]", Wen Wei Po, 27 November 2006, archived from the original on 26 September 2011, retrieved 8 July 2011
  4. ^ "那一夜，Cari版主网聚再创记录 [That night, Cari moderators set a record again]", TechDaily, 23 November 2009, retrieved 9 July 2011
  5. ^ Sreejit Pillai (13 November 2001), M'sia oldest search engine upbeat in trying times, ZDNet, archived from the original on 29 January 2012, retrieved 8 July 2011
  6. ^ Yeoh, Oon (12 June 2008), "Food, glorious local food", The Star, retrieved 8 July 2011
  7. ^ "梁宗寶醜聞風波‧佳禮須交出網友資料 [Neoh scandal: Cari must disclose internet user's information]", Sin Chew Daily, 6 November 2008, archived from the original on 26 March 2012, retrieved 8 July 2011
  8. ^ K. Kasturi Dewi (7 November 2008), "Court orders website to reveal identities", The Star, archived from the original on 10 November 2008, retrieved 8 July 2011
  9. ^ Top Sites in Malaysia, Alexa Internet, archived from the original on 20 January 2022, retrieved 1 April 2018

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