Dutch Employment Agency Randstad Acquires Monster.Com For $429 Million

On Tuesday, Dutch temporary employment agency Randstad announced that it is buying up US jobs site Monster for $429 million (EUR 386.8 million or roughly Rs. 2,868 crores), boosting its foothold in the United States.

Monster.com is one of the most visited employment websites in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It was created in 1999 by the merger of The Monster Board (TMB) and Online Career Center (OCC), which were two of the first and most popular career web sites on the internet. Monster is primarily used to help those seeking work to find job openings, for lower to mid-level employment, that match their skills and location. It has its headquarters in Weston, Massachusetts, USA. The company has approximately 5,000 employees on its payroll in 36 countries. In 2008, Monster had over a million job postings at any time and over one million resumes in the database and over 63 million job seekers per month.

“Under the terms of the merger agreement, Randstad will pay $3.40 per share in cash, or a total purchase price of approximately $429 million,” Randstad, which is based in the Diemen suburb of Amsterdam, said in a statement. Randstad said it aimed to leverage Monster’s network “to build the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of HR (human resources) services”.

Randstad chief executive Jacques van den Broek said, “In an era of massive technological change, employers are challenged to identify better ways to source and engage talent.”

Under the deal, Randstad is offering $3.40 per share in cash some 22.7 percent up on Monster’s closing price on Monday.

Randstad will finance the merger through existing credit facilities, and the acquisition is expected to be completed by the final quarter of 2016.

In 2015, Randstad achieved a turnover of €19.2 billion and a net income of €518.8 million. The Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm employs around 29,000 staff. Globally, Randstad has 4,473 branches. IT is the world’s second-largest HR service provider after Adecco. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1960 by Frits Goldschmeding and operates in around 39 countries. Its headquarters is located at Diemen, Netherlands.