Yahoo to buy HotJobs.com

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. said it reached a deal Thursday with HotJobs.com to purchase the online job hunting and recruitment service for $436 million, in equal parts stock and cash.

This vaults the already large and diversified Yahoo into the No. 2 position for online employment services, rivaled by the Monster.com service owned by TMP Worldwide Inc., which effectively pulled out of bidding for HotJobs on Thursday.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo said that under terms of the definitive agreement, the company will acquire HotJobs for a value of $10.50 per share of the employment service.

"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, Yahoo's chairman and chief executive officer. "HotJobs bolsters our listings offering by instantly positioning Yahoo as the No. 2 player in the online recruiting segment, which we believe to be one of the fastest growing opportunities within online classifieds."

"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, " Semel added.

Dimitri Boylan, chief executive officer of HotJobs, said, "We are very pleased to be joining Yahoo. We believe this transaction presents great value for our stockholders and is a great opportunity for our employees, customers and job seekers. We also thank TMP for their interest in the company."

HotJobs announced earlier Thursday that it had terminated its merger agreement with TMP Worldwide Inc. and has paid TMP a termination fee of $15 million plus $2 million of expenses.

Yahoo expects the acquisition of HotJobs to be consummated in the first quarter of 2002.

The $1 billion online careers advertising or classifieds business is expected to grow up to 35 percent annually, reaching between $2 billion and $4 billion by 2005, according to estimates by Forrester Research.