| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online service provider |
| Founded | (1996) |
| Headquarters | São Paulo, Brazil |
| Key people | Luiz Frias (Chairman & CEO) |
| Products | Social networking Online media |
| Revenue | US$ 488.9 Million (2010) [1] |
| Net income | US$ 58.2 Million (2010)[2] |
| Employees | 859 |
| Parent | Grupo Folha |
| Website | uol.com.br |
UOL once known as Universo Online, is a Brazilian online service provider and internet service provider. It is the leader in Latin America and the homepage portal is the biggest in the Portuguese speaking world.
UOL is currently ranked at Alexa TOP 100. [3]
Contents |
UOL started operations in 1996 as a joint venture with Grupo Abril (no longer a partner in the company) and Grupo Folha. UOL has cemented its leadership with the biggest Brazilian publications: Revista Veja and Folha de São Paulo.
UOL competes with another large communication groups for Brazil's internet audience: Organizações Globo (owner of the nation's top-rated television network) with Globo.com, Telefónica-owned Terra and Oi's iG, iBest, BrTurbo and Oi Internet.
UOL is ranked among the top 100 most visited websites according to Alexa (as of Dec 2011 its position is #79). UOL provides local Internet access in more than 3,000 cities throughout Brazil and 14,000 cities abroad. The Company has approximately 1.3 million content paying broadband subscribers as of July 2009. Since September 1999, UOL has also operated a portal in Argentina, incorporating a local Internet Service provider in 2001. According to IBOPE//NetRatings, UOL had 17.6 million unique visitors in Brazil as of July 2009, maintaining its ranking position of the first among the largest content portals in Brazil and accounting for a 63% reach in this market.
UOL launched a variety of products in the last few years, as a price comparison service (Shopping UOL), auction site (TodaOferta), job search (Emprego Certo) among others.
On December 16, 2005, UOL started to being traded at BM&F Bovespa, but in August 31, 2011, its paret Folhapar assumed 100% control of the company, closing its capital on the stock exchange. Its stock was UOLL4.