Days after its shares plunged to a two-year low, Monster makes a $61 million purchase.Coming off a difficult 2007, Monster Worldwide announced Jan. 4 that it has acquired a portfolio of career verticals, including TechCommunity, an IT career development site.
In a deal valued at $61 million, Affinity Labs, which operates several professional and vocational communities in dedicated occupations has been acquired by Monster, in hopes to improve its Monster.com community features and increased its advertising customer base.
"Our investment in Affinity provides Monster with an efficient vehicle for developing future revenue streams in vibrant career fields while permitting us to actively invest in product, technology and brand support in our core business. The addition of Affinity Labs to the Monster family will benefit both job seekers and customers in the vertical markets where Affinity operates," Monster's chairman and CEO Sal Iannuzzi said in a statement.
Founded in 2006, Affinity's portfolio of seven sites including TechCommunity, an online meeting place for IT professionals which encourages collaboration, skills building and job advice among its members.
In early 2007, Monster and Affinity signed an agreement that gave Monster's ad sales force access to Affinity's communities. The sale of Affinity serves to further increase Monster's presence in these verticals.
Monster had a difficult 2007. After missing its second quarter sales and earnings targets, it restructured and axed 800 workers in July. In August, its chief financial officer Chris G. Power resigned and, that same month, it lost the names, addresses and phone numbers of 1.3 million of its registered job seeker in a widely-publicized data breach.
Monster's shares plunged to a two-year low Jan. 2 after reporting a 7.7 percent decline in its employment index in December.
Monster said in a statement that it doesn't anticipate the Affinity acquisition having a material impact on financial results in 2008.
Check out eWEEK.com's Careers Center for the latest news, analysis and commentary on careers for IT professionals.
