Monster 'Find(s) A More Meaningful Existence' In Randstad Randstad acquires job portal Monster.com for $449 million. What's the catch here?

Acquisitions are the buzz of the town right now. With precedent acquisitions such as Microsoft-LinkedIn, Myntra-Jabong and then Verizon-Yahoo, we thought it would be it. But it seems like there is another firm ready to exit, due to massive losses.

Joining the league of extraordinary acquisition is Monster.com, the well established US-based job portal and a veteran from the first dot-com boom. The hiring platform is acquired by Dutch human resources services provider Randstad Holding NV, for a sweet deal of $3.40 per share in cash, which makes a total of $429 million approximately.

But how sweet is this deal really?

What happened to Monster.com?

Well, this is a story that has come to life in many forms. It has happened with startups such as Jabong and with big firms, such as Yahoo, as well.

Monster was the undefeated king of online hiring in the early 2000s. It was launched soon after it was founded in 1999. The first dot-com boom gave it resources to evolve and the correct publicity to get customer's attention. In its initial years, Monster had a share priced over $91 and a market cap of nearly $8 billion. Even in 2007, when its stock was around $51, Monster was valued as high as $5.5 billion.

Now, this price has come down to $262 million as of Monday.

What's ironic here is that Monster.com itself is a firm believer in acquisitions. It entered India in 2014 after acquiring Delhi based jobs portal jobsahead.com, which was renamed to Monster India. Only in June it acquired another job search startup Jobr.

What's the catch?

In the words of Randstad, this acquisition will create a "portfolio of HR services' that will consolidate the various aspects of recruitment and employment industry. "By leveraging Monster's multiple distribution channels to bridge two different but complementary parts of the extended recruiting industry," Randstad said in a statement. Monster will continue operating as a separate and independent entity under the Monster name.

"In an era of massive technological change, employers are challenged to identify better ways to source and engage talent," said Jacques van den Broek, CEO of Randstad. "With its industry leading technology platform and easy to use digital, social and mobile solutions, Monster is a natural complement to Randstad. The transaction is aligned with our Tech and Touch growth strategy and reflects our commitment to bringing labor supply and demand closer together to better connect the right people to the right jobs. We look forward to welcoming the Monster team and working together to shape the evolving global job industry."

With the addition of Monster's leading recruiting media, technologies, and platforms, which connect people and jobs in more than 40 countries, Randstad intends to further expand its services to offer both clients and candidates tools for increased efficiency and engagement, connecting more people to more jobs.

Talking about the acquisition, Tim Yates, CEO of Monster said, "Joining Randstad provides a unique opportunity to accelerate our ability to connect more people to more jobs. Together with Randstad, Monster will be better positioned to fulfill our core mission, and our employees will benefit from becoming part of a larger, more diversified company. Equally important, this transaction offers immediate value to our shareholders."

We are excited to join and be supported by Randstad, as we continue to build the best recruiting media, technologies, and platforms, he added.