Monster to Acquire Yahoo! HotJobs

February 4, 2010 – Monster Worldwide, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of online recruitment site Yahoo! HotJobs from Yahoo! for $225 million in cash. Monster and Yahoo! have also entered into a three year commercial traffic agreement, to take effect upon the closing of the acquisition, in which Monster will become Yahoo!'s provider of career and job content on the Yahoo! homepage in the U.S. and Canada. The traffic agreement calls for performance based annual payments calculated by clicks and expressions of interest, subject to annual floors and ceilings. In addition, the traffic agreement provides Monster with 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. “HotJobs with its significant customer base plus the traffic agreement are an ideal complement to Monster's innovative recruitment solutions and global reach,” said Sal Iannuzzi, chairman, CEO and president of Monster Worldwide. It was only a little less than eight years ago that Yahoo! outbid Monster to acquire New York start-up HotJobs for $436 million after HotJobs terminated its merger agreement with TMP Worldwide. At the time Hotjobs was the No. 1 job board destination in the U.S. and its acquisition catapulted Yahoo! to the No. 2 jobs destination site after Monster. If the deal passes regulatory scrutiny it is expected to strengthen Monster in competition with Career Builder – the last two remaining general purpose recruitment sites in the U.S.