Founding Partners · Luxury Real Estate & Luxury Development
A Place at the Table, from the Very First Day
An invitation to a small number of the region’s finest agencies and developers to stand beside TheMiddleEast.com from its beginning, as the world discovers the Middle East online.
Your risk is one year’s fee. Your reward is a place among the three, for as long as you renew.
Built for generations, not seasons. Founding Partners take the long view: not six months, but sixty years.
TheMiddleEast.com is at the start of its journey, and we would rather tell you so ourselves. Our first year will not bring the audience we expect in five. What we build together in these early years is the foundation for everything that follows, over years and over decades.
A gateway the region has been waiting for
The Middle East has long deserved a single, distinguished address online: one place where the world comes to discover it. No such gateway exists yet, and none devoted to luxury. TheMiddleEast.com, the region’s own name and a name known to billions, was made for that role. TheMiddleEast.com is the region’s own name, in its exact form, on .com: the economic bridge between the Middle East and the world, built for decades and for generations to come.
Devoted to the exceptional
Our attention rests on two worlds that belong together: luxury travel and Luxury Real Estate. We feature only the finest: the most remarkable resorts, the most accomplished developers, the most trusted agencies. The best of the best, or not at all.
With our respect,Keith E. ShanahanFounder, The Middle East Company
Ultra-Luxury Tourism · Stay Here
Stay in the finest
Many of the region's most significant buyers first arrive as guests. Start with the finest hotels, resorts and private villas in the Middle East.
Many of the world’s most significant property buyers first arrive as guests. Many others buy from abroad without ever boarding a plane, and institutions buy at scale. TheMiddleEast.com brings all three to the Founding Partners in their Territory.
I
The Traveler-Investor
Discovers the region on TheMiddleEast.com, falls in love with a coastline or a skyline, and returns to own a residence.
II
The Buyer from Abroad
Never boards a plane. Views homes and projects by video, works with your team and a lawyer, and signs from home.
III
The Institution
Funds, family offices and companies looking for whole floors, buildings and portfolios, and an investor-relations desk.
Every one of them is pointed to you: the Founding Partner Agency or the Founding Partner Developer in their Territory.
The world’s strongest long-term growth story
US$386 billion today, US$605 billion by 2036
Middle East Travel & Tourism was worth US$386 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach US$605 billion by 2036, about 6.3% a year. Tourism and Luxury Real Estate are converging into integrated destinations of hotels, branded residences, dining and wellness, built by the region’s developers.
For an Agency, a 2% commission on a US$5 million villa is US$100,000: twice the first year’s investment. For a Developer, one US$2.5 million residence bought directly, rather than through an outside broker at 4%, saves the same US$100,000.
Two Programs, One Gateway
For the agency, and for the developer
Each Territory has its Founding Partner Agencies and its Founding Partner Developers, side by side.
Program I
Founding Partner Agency
For the Luxury Real Estate agency that knows its Territory best. Buyers and sellers looking for a home in your Territory find you on its page, and contact your team directly.
For the developer shaping its Territory’s skyline and shoreline. Your story, and up to four films of your developments, made and hosted by you, are presented to the world’s travelers and investors from the very beginning.
A page of your own, built by us in the house style at no extra cost, and kept up to date by our team. Send us any change and we make it for you.
The Golden Badge, bearing the year you joined, verified on our public Golden Badge register.
Your story, in your own words: a welcome from your Managing Director, your logo, and up to six photographs of your office, showroom and team.
Four films, of selected properties or developments, made and hosted by you.
Direct contact, in one tap. Call, WhatsApp, Email and Website buttons on your page and on your Territory page. Buyers and sellers reach your team directly; TheMiddleEast.com never stands in between.
A place among the few. Featured on your Territory page beside no more than two other Founding Partners in your category, presented in rotation.
“Presented by” your name. Credited, in rotation with the other Founding Partners, on your Territory’s city guide, country guide, Luxury Real Estate page and other pages about your Territory, with an “Own a home here” invitation on its travel guides.
Always first. Founding Partners rotate equally among themselves and, together, always stand ahead of every Partner admitted after Year 3 and every other advertiser. They believed in TheMiddleEast.com from its beginning.
Your Page
Two sample Founding Partner pages
Every Founding Partner receives its own page on TheMiddleEast.com, built for it in this style. Open the sample for your category, or download the full Media Kit.
The best way to see what you receive is a real page. Shortly, you will be able to open a finished Founding Partner page, live on TheMiddleEast.com, shown here with that firm’s written permission.
Coming Soon
A Rare Position
Three places, first come, after approval
Each Territory has three places for Founding Partner Agencies and three for Founding Partner Developers, open from the first day.
First come, after approval. Places are filled in the order complete applications are approved. A place cannot be bought, and there is no waiting list.
Three choices in every Territory. The buyer and the seller decide whom to contact, not The Middle East Company.
Your risk is one year’s fee. Your reward is a place among the three, for as long as you renew.
Built for generations, not seasons. Founding Partners take the long view: not six months, but sixty years.
Founders for as long as you renew. Your title and your Golden Badge stay for as long as you renew each year. Renewal is due at the end of each year, with 15 days’ grace; on day 16 without payment, the place and the badge are released.
After Year 3. In Years 1 to 3, an open place goes to a new Founding Partner. After Year 3, no new Founding Partners are made: an open place goes to a Partner, who receives a page and four films, without the Golden Badge, listed after the Founding Partners.
Chosen, not simply accepted. The Middle East Company may accept or reject any application, for any reason, to maintain the luxury standard of TheMiddleEast.com.
Not every application is accepted. We choose each Founding Partner carefully, against strict criteria, because every firm on TheMiddleEast.com reflects on the site and on the region.
Personal, and never transferable. A place belongs only to the firm we approve. It cannot be sold, transferred, assigned, shared, lent or passed on in any way, including through a merger, a sale of the business, a related company or a change of name or brand, unless The Middle East Company agrees in writing. Every change to a Founding Partner or Partner page, including its name, owner, contact details, text, photographs and films, is approved by The Middle East Company before it appears.
For the region’s leading agencies and developers, the fee is nothing compared to the size of their annual marketing budgets, and it is the surest protection against a competitor arriving first. Your risk is one year’s fee. Your reward is a place among the three, for as long as you renew.
Year
Annual investment
Year 1
US$50,000
Year 2
US$75,000
Year 3
US$100,000
Year 4 and beyond
To be announced
One rate for everyone, joining or renewing: the rate of the current year. Paid in full, once a year, by bank wire.
One year at a time. Renewal is due at the end of each year, with a 15-day grace period.
An advertising fee, never a commission. The fee is flat, paid in advance, and never depends on inquiries, clicks or sales. TheMiddleEast.com is an advertising and media platform, not a real estate broker, agent or finder.
The same in every Territory. Smaller Territories are welcome to write to us.
Written approval comes first. No wire instructions are given until your application is approved in writing and your signed Terms are returned. Wire instructions come only from [email protected] or from our official WhatsApp, +1-561-543-6625. Before wiring, always confirm by calling us on that number. We never change bank details by message.
How It Works
From application to welcome
It begins with one minute.
Reserve. One minute: your Territory, your name, your firm and your WhatsApp.
We speak. We contact you, usually within one business day, to talk about your Territory.
Apply. Complete the full Founding Partner Application, with your logo and photographs. We review every application within five business days.
See your page. Once your application is complete, we send you a private preview of your page.
Approval. You receive our approval by email, with the Founding Partner Terms and your invoice.
Sign. You sign the Terms and return them to us.
Wire. We send wire instructions by email or WhatsApp, as you prefer. Before wiring, always confirm them by calling +1-561-543-6625.
Welcome. On receipt, we welcome you, build your page from your application and files, and publish it after our final review.
Apply
Choose your Territory
66 Territories across fourteen countries, each with three places for Agencies and three for Developers.
Every Founding Partner is chosen on merit, so that every buyer and seller who contacts you reflects well on you, and on us.
Fully licensed in your Territory (in Dubai with RERA, in Saudi Arabia with REGA), with your license shown on your page.
An established record in Luxury Real Estate or luxury development.
Ready for the world: a multilingual team able to welcome international buyers and sellers.
Responsive: every inquiry answered within 24 hours.
References: two, on request.
Questions
Questions partners ask
Why join now, while TheMiddleEast.com is new?
Because the Founding Partner position exists only at the beginning. A place taken today may never be offered again, and the firms who join first are the ones the world meets first as the site grows.
How many Founding Partners are there in each Territory?
Up to three Agencies and three Developers, first come, after approval. Founding Partners are made only in Years 1 to 3, and remain Founders for as long as they renew each year.
How do buyers and sellers reach us?
Directly. Your page and your Territory page carry Call, WhatsApp, Email and Website buttons. TheMiddleEast.com is an advertising platform, not a broker: we take no commission and never stand in between.
What do we show on our page?
Your story, your logo, photographs of your office and team, and up to four films of selected properties or developments, made and hosted by you, with a link to your main website. No property listings appear on TheMiddleEast.com.
How is payment made?
In full, by bank wire, within 10 days of written approval and your signed Terms. Wire instructions come only from [email protected] or from our official WhatsApp, +1-561-543-6625. Before wiring, always confirm by calling us on that number. We never change bank details by message.
Do we commit for several years?
No. You commit one year at a time, at the current year’s rate, with a 15-day grace period to renew.
What happens if a Founding Partner does not renew?
On day 16 without payment, the place and the Golden Badge are released. In Years 1 to 3 the place goes to a new Founding Partner; after Year 3, to a Partner.
Can we hold several Territories, or a whole country?
Yes, a firm may hold several Territories, and both categories, each with its own fee. Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are each one Territory; elsewhere, Territories follow each country’s own map: Emirates, Provinces, Governorates or great cities.
Do you have a Founding Partner program for the Mediterranean?
Yes. Our sister site, TheMediterranean.com, has its own Founding Partner program, built the same way: three Agencies and three Developers in each Territory, and never more. Firms working in both regions are welcome to hold places on both, each with its own fee.
Speak with the CEO of The Middle East Company. Calls are welcome 6:00 am to 10:00 am, New York time (US Eastern), the afternoon in the Gulf, at +1-561-543-6625. WhatsApp at the same number, any time.
With Our Gratitude
To those who join us at the beginning
For roughly the commission on a single sale, your firm takes its place on the gateway between the Western Hemisphere and the Middle East. To those who choose to join us now: your confidence will be remembered, and returned.
Your risk is one year’s fee. Your reward is a place among the three, for as long as you renew.
Many of the region’s leading agencies and developers also work across the Mediterranean, from Greece and Italy to the Riviera and Spain. Our sister site, TheMediterranean.com, has its own Founding Partner program, built the same way: three Agencies and three Developers in each Territory, and never more.
Looking for a home on the Mediterranean? TheMediterranean.com points you to its own Founding Partners.
