Yahoo to Acquire HotJobs

Posted on December 28, 2001

Yahoo Inc. announced that it will acquire HotJobs.com, Ltd., a recruitment company whose services include the HotJobs.com consumer job website. Yahoo outbid TMP Worldwide Inc., the operator of Monster.com, the leading recruitment website, for HotJobs.

Yahoo has been converting more of its resources and products into fee-based services over the past year. The downturn in online advertising forced Yahoo to look more into subscription and fee-based options for revenue growth. In addition to HotJobs, Yahoo maintains an online career resource and job board at Yahoo Careers. The $1 billion online careers classifieds business is expected to grow up to 35% annually, reaching between $2 billion and $4 billion by 2005, according to estimates by Forrester Research.

``Together, Yahoo and HotJobs will form a powerful new force in the recruitment marketplace and be a valuable source for employers, recruiters and job seekers worldwide,'' said Terry Semel, chairman and CEO, Yahoo Inc. ``HotJobs bolsters our Listings offering by instantly positioning Yahoo as the number two player in the online recruiting segment, which we believe to be one of the fastest growing opportunities within online classifieds.''

Mr. Semel continued, ``The acquisition of HotJobs is consistent with our strategy of building a diversified global business by developing deeper relationships and more valuable solutions in key verticals for our consumers and business partners. We expect HotJobs to drive additional revenue for Yahoo through listing and subscription fees from employers and recruiters. We look forward to working with the HotJobs team to maximize the recruiting opportunity.''

HotJobs provides a customer base of over 7,000 employers and recruiters and a database of more than five million resumes. Yahoo Careers has nearly two million resumes in its database. Yahoo expects the transaction to be consummated in the first quarter of 2002.