Monster.com

Last updated
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
Monster.com Logo 2019.svg
Type of businessSubsidiary
Type of site
Job search engine
Available in Multilingual
FoundedJanuary 1999;25 years ago (1999-01)
Headquarters Weston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Founder(s) Jeff Taylor
Key peopleScott Gutz (CEO)
Industry Internet
Services Online employment
Revenue US$880 million (2014) [1]
Employees1,375 (2021)
Parent Randstad Holding
(2016–present)
URL www.monster.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired
Current statusActive
Close up of Monster.com's headquarters in Weston, Massachusetts Monster HQ - Weston MA - 02.jpg
Close up of Monster.com's headquarters in Weston, Massachusetts

Monster.com is a global employment website that was established in 1999 as a result of the merger between The Monster Board and Online Career Centre.

Contents

It is a subsidiary of Randstad Holding, a Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm. [2] The company's headquarters are in Weston, Massachusetts.

History

Early years

Monster.com was founded when Jeff Taylor, the owner of human resources company Adion, contracted Net Daemons Associates to develop a facility whereby job seekers could search a job database with a web browser.

Initially the site, which went live in April 1994, was populated with job descriptions from the newspaper segment of Adion's business.

However, in 1996, The Monster Board issued a press release that was widely picked up and drove more people to the site. The Monster Board became the first public job search website on the internet and the first to have job search agents or job alerts.

Adion was subsequently acquired by TMP Worldwide, which went public in December 1996, with its shares traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “TMPW”.

In 1999, The Monster Board merged with Online Career Center to become Monster.com and TMP Worldwide was added to S&P 500 Index in 2002.

TMP Worldwide changed its corporate name to Monster Worldwide, Inc. and began trading under the new NASDAQ ticker symbol "MWW" in 2003.

Growth

Throughout the years, Monster.com expanded its services, acquired other companies and launched additional websites:

Decline and challenges

In August 2005, founder Jeff Taylor left Monster to create Eons.com.

A year and half later in April 2007, Sal Iannuzzi was named as Monster chairman and CEO. [9] In 2011, the company's stock was rated the worst-performing stock of the year [10] and the same year, Monster relocated to Weston, MA ending a 15-year stay in Maynard.

On November 4, 2014, Iannuzzi's tenure as CEO ended. During his time at the company's helm, its stock value declined by over 90% and it lost 93% of its market capitalization, falling from US$5.5bn when he was named CEO to under $400M when he departed. [11]

Shares of Monster.com jumped 12% in pre-market trading with the announcement of his departure. [12]

Acquisition

On June 8, 2016, Monster.com announced its acquisition of San Francisco-based start-up Jobr, a job-finding app the company described as a Tinder (app) for jobs. [13]

Two months later, on August 9, 2016, Monster was acquired by Randstad Holding, a multinational human resources and recruitment specialist, for $429 million in cash. [14] Following completion of the transaction, its shares were delisted from the NYSE.

In January 2018, Quess Corp bought the company's business in India, SE Asia and the Middle East, [15] and, in November 2022, Monster APAC & ME (a subsidiary of Quess Corp) announced that the business was changing its name to Foundit, and that the website would become a talent management platform in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East regions. [16] [17]

Super Bowl Ads and corporate sponsorship

Monster.com first advertised during the Super Bowl in 1999. It continued to advertise every year through to Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004.

Monster's first-ever Super Bowl ad, "When I Grow Up", (created by Mullen) asked job seekers, "What did you want to be?" It is the only commercial named to Time magazine's list of the "Best of Television 1999."

As the official online career management services sponsor of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and 2002 U.S. Olympic Team, Monster also had a strong presence at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Criticism

Cyber attacks

Monster has faced several instances of personal information theft.

In less than two weeks in August 2007, Monster had numerous leaks that resulted in the loss of millions of customers' data to identity theft. [18] [19] Monster waited several days to announce this leak, a delay that drew heavy criticism. They subsequently announced new security measures.

In January 2009, there was another large-scale leak at its UK-based site monster.co.uk, [20] in which demographic information of up to 4.5 million people was obtained by hackers. [21]

Stock option grants backdating scandal

In July 2006, the company announced that it might restate financial results for the year ending December 31, 2005 and previous years to record additional non-cash charges for stock-based compensation expenses relating to various stock option grants. [22] In October 25, 2006, the company said that it found pricing problems in a "substantial number" of its past option grants and, as a result, it expected to restate its results from 1997 through 2005. [23]

In September 2006, Monster suspended Myron Olesnyckyj, the company's lead lawyer, pending the internal review of irregular stock option grants. [22] Olesnyckyj had held the titles of senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary. [23] In a statement, the company said Olesnyckyj was terminated "for cause." [23] Andrew J. McKelvey also resigned his posts as chairman and chief executive, although he retained his seat on the board as chairman emeritus. [23]

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York issued a subpoena to the company over options backdating, and a special committee of company directors planned to complete its own investigation by the end of the year.

The company delayed filing its earnings results for the second and third quarters for 2006. Second-quarter results were expected December 13. Third-quarter numbers were to be issued "as soon as practicable," according to a November 7 statement from the company. [23]

In 2006, Monster Worldwide, Inc. received a notice from Nasdaq about a possible delisting of its shares due to the company's failure to file its third-quarter earnings report. [24] However, the delisting did not occur.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trident Microsystems</span>

Trident Microsystems Inc. was a fabless semiconductor company that became in the 1990s a well-known supplier of integrated circuits for video display controllers used in video cards and on motherboards for desktop PCs and laptops. In 2003, it transformed itself into being a supplier of display processors for digital televisions, and primarily LCD TVs starting from 2005, at a time when the global LCD TV market started showing strong growth.

Yahoo HotJobs, formerly known as hotjobs.com, was an online job search engine. It provided tools and advice for job seekers, employers, and staffing firms. It was acquired by Yahoo in 2002, then acquired by Monster Worldwide, owner of its major competitor Monster.com in 2010—leading to its merger with Monster.com and eventual closure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randstad NV</span> Dutch human resource consulting firm

Randstad NV, commonly known as Randstad and stylized as randstad, is a Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm headquartered in Diemen, Netherlands. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1960 by Gerrit Daleboudt and Frits Goldschmeding. It now operates in around 39 countries. The company is named after the Randstad region of the Netherlands. Randstad NV is listed as RAND on the AEX of Euronext Amsterdam. Goldschmeding is still its biggest shareholder, as of April 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Fresh Market</span> American chain of supermarkets

The Fresh Market is an American chain of supermarkets based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Monster Worldwide, Inc., formerly TMP Worldwide, is an American provider of employment services, most notably Monster.com. Through online media sites and services, the company delivers targeted audiences to advertisers.

Cision Ltd. is a public relations and earned media software company and services provider. The company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to offering Cision-branded services, the company owns a portfolio of companies including PRNewswire, PRWeb, Bulletin Intelligence, L'Argus de la presse, Help a Reporter Out (HARO), CEDROM-SNI, Prime Research, and Canada Newswire.

In corporate finance, a listing refers to the company's shares being on the list of stock that are publicly listed. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, subject to conditions.

Velti is a mobile marketing company offering its services to mobile operators and brands. The company was founded in 2001, went public in London in 2006 and on NASDAQ in 2011. In 2013 Blackstone, acquired the assets of Velti and the company was taken private.

Radancy, formerly known as TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, LLC, is an independent technology company that provides SaaS for recruitment and talent acquisition. Headquartered in New York City, the company has 14 offices in the United States, as well as international locations in Brazil, Canada, Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, India and Singapore.

Andrew McKelvey was an American business mogul and chairman and chief executive of Monster Worldwide. He was a billionaire and a philanthropist through the McKelvey Foundation.

Cimatron is an Israeli software company that produces CAD/CAM software for manufacturing, toolmaking and CNC programming applications.

MorphoSys AG is a German biopharmaceutical company founded in 1992. The company is headquartered near Munich, Germany, and has a wholly owned subsidiary, MorphoSys US Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts, in the US. The company has various antibody, protein and peptide technologies that it uses to discover and develop both proprietary and partnered drug candidates. The company has more than 100 drugs in its wider pipeline that are being investigated for a variety of diseases. While many of these are being developed in partnership with pharma and biotech companies, MorphoSys also has a proprietary pipeline with a focus on cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Tobii Dynavox is a SE-based developer, manufacturer, and distributor of speech generating devices headquartered in Danderyd, Sweden, with offices in Pittsburgh, Norway, Germany, France, the UK, China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The company was formed in 1983 and produces speech communication devices and special education software used to assist individuals in overcoming speech, language and learning challenges.

Piksel is a professional service and technology provider to the broadcast and media industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gazit-Globe</span> Global real estate company

Gazit Globe is a leading global real estate company focused on the ownership, development, and management of income-producing properties for mixed use including retail, office and residential located in densely populated urban cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasdaq Private Market</span> Secondary market trading venue

Nasdaq Private Market (NPM) provides a secondary market trading venue for issuers, brokers, shareholders, and prospective investors of private company stock. Since inception, NPM has facilitated more than $40 billion in transactional volume and has worked with 400+ private companies and 100,000+ employees, stakeholders, and investors. NPM offers private company and investors different solutions including tender offers, auctions, block trades, and custom company marketplaces. In 2021, NPM spun-off of Nasdaq to become its own, independent company receiving strategic investments from Silicon Valley Bank, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Allen and Co.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qurate Retail Group</span> American fashion holding company

Qurate Retail, Inc., also known as Qurate Retail Group, is an American media conglomerate controlled by company chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares.

Randstad India is a division of Dutch-based Randstad Holding NV, a Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands.

Trivago N.V., marketed with lowercase styling as trivago, is a German technology company specializing in internet-related services and products in the hotel, lodging and metasearch fields. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf. The American online travel company Expedia Group owns a majority of the company's stock.

Cyren Inc. was a cloud-based Internet security technology company that created security services and threat intelligence to businesses. It offered a range of services including web security, DNS security, anti-spam solutions, phishing detection, ransomware protection, URL filtering, malware detection, and botnet attack prevention. Cyren also provided endpoint protection for mobile devices and Internet of Things (IoT) gateways. Major clients included Microsoft, Google, Check Point, Dell, T-Mobile, and Intel. The company announced its closure in February 2023.

References

  1. "Google Finance - Stock Market Prices, Real-time Quotes & Business News". www.google.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved Sep 13, 2022.
  2. "Randstad to acquire Monster Worldwide to transform the way people and jobs connect". www.randstadusa.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  3. "E-Commerce News: News: Monster Parent Pays $800K for Jobs.com Domain Name". Ecommercetimes.com. Archived from the original on 2010-04-28. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  4. "Careers Advice | Career Guidance | Monster.co.uk". www.monster.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved Sep 13, 2022.
  5. "Job Search – Monster Job Site – Find Better – Monster.co.uk". Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  6. "Monster buys S.F. Web operator Affinity for $61 million". Jan 5, 2008. Archived from the original on September 13, 2022. Retrieved Sep 13, 2022.
  7. "Monster Worldwide Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript". Seeking Alpha. 31 July 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  8. "Monster to Acquire HotJobs Business and Enter into Multi-year Traffic Agreement with Yahoo!". press release. 3 February 2010. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  9. "Monster Worldwide". Phx.corporate-ir.net. 2007-04-12. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  10. "Worst-performing stocks of 2011". CNN Money. 2011-06-29. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
  11. "Monster Worldwide (MWW) Chart". ycharts.com. 2014-11-04. Archived from the original on 2014-11-05. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
  12. "Monster Worldwide names new CEO". marketwatch.com. 2014-11-04. Archived from the original on 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
  13. Perez, Sarah (June 9, 2016). "Monster snaps up 'Tinder for jobs' app, Jobr". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  14. Lunden, Ingrid (August 9, 2016). "Randstad buys Monster for $429M as recruitment consolidation continues". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  15. "Quess acquires job listing portal Monster's business units for $14 million". www.business-standard.com. 2018-02-01. Archived from the original on 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  16. "Monster.com rebrands to foundit". Deccan Herald. 2022-11-23. Archived from the original on 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  17. "Job search platform Monster rebrands as foundit; to focus on talent management". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  18. Finkle, Jim (2007-08-30). "Data stolen from 146,000 people on Web site | Technology | Internet". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  19. Keizer, Gregg (2007-08-20). "Monster.com identity attack may claim more vicitims | InfoWorld | News | 2007-08-20 | By Gregg Keizer, Computerworld". InfoWorld. Archived from the original on 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  20. "Monster Jobs: Jobsite & Local job search | Find a Job today". www.monster.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved Sep 13, 2022.
  21. "Login". Archived from the original on 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
  22. 1 2 "Founder of Monster.com Resigns". New York Times. Reuters. 2006-10-31. Archived from the original on 2008-01-30. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Tong, Vinnee (Nov 23, 2006). "Monster fires lawyer over stock options". Mercury News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2007-01-05.
  24. Rigoli, Elaine (Nov 15, 2006). "Monster Faces Possible Nasdaq Delisting". Archived from the original on 2008-06-13.