Yahoo! sells another commodity it deems expendable, this time dumping Hot Jobs to Monster.com for $225 million
By Gabe Perna
Yahoo! is having a fire sale. If you’re lucky you can get a great commodity at a relatively cheap price. A few weeks ago Yahoo unloaded Zimbra to VMare. Now the former tech .com giant sold HotJobs, its website job search commodity, to Monster.com, a former rival. The deal was for $225 million and was all cash.
With the deal, Monster will become Yahoo!’s provider of career and job content on the Yahoo! homepage in the United States and Canada. Furthermore, the deal grants Monster an exclusive right for a period of time following the closing of the acquisition to negotiate similar traffic agreements with Yahoo! properties on a global basis, including countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, subject to certain limitations. All in all, this sounds like a great deal for Monster, which has just lobbed off one of its major competitors.
Back in 2002, Yahoo! Acquired HotJobs for a cash and stock deal valued at $436 million. It brings the end of an interesting chapter. Before HotJobs was bought by Yahoo!, Monster.com actually agreed to buy it shortly after the .com bubble burst. However, Monster.com got trumped by Yahoo!
“HotJobs with its significant customer base plus the traffic agreement are an ideal complement to Monster’s innovative recruitment solutions and global reach. These agreements, combined with Monster’s career Communities and our recently introduced 6Sense™ semantic search technology, will bring substantial new benefits for employers seeking more qualified candidates and job seekers searching for more relevant opportunities across a wider range of industries – globally,” stated Sal Iannuzzi, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Monster Worldwide.
“Bringing together Monster and HotJobs creates even greater access and opportunities for both recruiters and job seekers. The transaction with Monster enables us to continue to provide an important service to our users through the traffic agreement. Yahoo! remains focused on its core businesses and delivering exceptional experiences to users, partners and advertisers,” stated Hilary Schneider, EVP, Yahoo!.
More on this deal here