Randstad to buy Monster

Recruitment Company Randstad Holding NV will acquire Monster Worldwide Inc. for $429 Million in a bid to widen the portfolio of Human Resource services it offers. The deal value is a significant comedown from the $7.5 Billion valuation the company demanded in 2006 and marks the acquisition of yet another icon of the first internet boom.

Yahoo’s core business was recently bought by Verizon for $4.83 Billion. Monster will retail its brand and work as an independent entity. Randstad will buy all of the outstanding shares of Monster for $3.40 per share in cash. Monster recently acquired Jobr, Japanese firm Recruit Holdings, though Indeed.com acquired Simply Hired.

It is also a reflection of the changes sweeping through the HR services business where customers are looking for integration much in the same way they do in IT services. The Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm with operations in 39 countries said Monster will continue to operate as an independent entity and will continue to operate under the Monster Brand. Monster has 3700 employees in the 40 countries that it is present in.

Companies like Monster have been hit by multitude of factors in recent times such as the economic slowdown around the world has had an impact on job sites like Monster as companies are making fewer hires. This coupled with professional networking sites and the rise of social media hiring by companies has meant that fewer people take to job sites.