The garage sale has officially begun.
There’s no buyer for the company. Yahoo! hates them. Indeed and LinkedIn are collectively digging its grave. And an Obama reelection likely means a sluggish economic future.
No one’s picking up what Sal is dropping …
And today they announce seeking a buyer for Monster property, ChinaHR. They’re dumping China? Let me say that again. They’re dumping China. China!
Not Jamaica. Not New Zealand. China!
Things at Monster might be even worse than I thought. The cost-cutting, which has also included layoffs according to the news, obviously eliminates overhead to make the company more attractive to buyers. Bad news: This desperate move means the field of suitors, at this point, must be down to “Screech” and Steve Urkel.
A jump into the numbers reveals a company whose sales are declining while expenses increase. A deadly combination. The careers North America unit, which made up 47 percent of sales last year, was $115.5 million – a 6.3 percent drop from the previous year. And International revenue declined 16 percent to $87.5 million.
The latest bag o’ rumors says Axel Springer is off the table and that Monster CEO Sal is getting some of his homeboys together to buy the company. Sounds like the latest Quentin Tarantino flick.
An anonymous, but clearly knowledgeable commenter on Yahoo! Finance said it best:
What gives anyone the impression that Sal, the Management Team or the Board can excute on a strategy. Roadmap for products, not. Selling the company since March, not. Increasing Sales while competitors are, not. This management team is a joke, and the Board should have thrown them out years ago.
Yes, they will make it easy to sell, as there will not be much left. What, sales are on track to be around $850 million for the year. Monster did that and more before they ever purchased HotJobs and ChinaHR. All the actions that Monster is suggesting it is taking should have been undertaken years ago.
Additionally, word is a lot of employees at the company are getting extremely nervous. One contact told me they don’t know one sales person who isn’t keeping their options open, in fear of all that’s gone on this year heading into next.
The fear is warranted. Your job is in jeopardy.
Employee resumes are likely on Monster, but it wouldn’t be a bad bet to say they’re on LinkedIn and Indeed too. Or, frankly, there’s likely a lot of poaching going on among the growing number of recruitment technology companies in the space.
Ironically, those LinkedIn networks will come in quite handy. I can’t see a scenario at Monster that won’t lead to draconian cuts and a complete rethink of the business model – no matter who owns it.
It ain’t cool bein’ no jive turkey so close to Thanksgiving.
