Monster Worldwide (MWW) saw a nice bump up in its share price the last couple of days mostly due to with the CEO saying that the company was going after “strategic alternatives to increasing shareholder value”. To Wall Street and other high members in the finance world, this usually means that the company may sell itself.
Monster has had a rough time in the last year. The market value has stayed around $969 million but shares have been cut in half.
CEO Sal Iannuzzi did not specifically say that a sale of the company was in the cards but he did repeatedly say that he was determined to get a better return for shareholders. However, after the CEO spoke, shares spiked up 17% as investors saw the announcement as a possible sale of the company.
Since Monster bought HotJobs from Yahoo a couple years back, the company has had a hard time getting its house in order. Last month, the company announced it would be laying off 400 workers as “continuing global economic uncertainties” persist.
Honestly, the best thing might be a sale for Monster. They are having a hard time reaching out to customers who are not hiring. It is tough to run a job search website when no one has any jobs to offer. That is why the best solution might be to just close up shop and commit to a sale. It could take years before job search sites are back on their feet and employers are hiring regularly again.
Monster is a leader in the industry and if they are coming out saying that their business is hurting, how do you think the other job sites are doing? Probably not too well. I would avoid this sector mostly because the fundamentals just aren’t there right now. Jobs are being added but not on a regular rate. Plus, employers are not going to pay extra money to advertise the job on a website unless the position is very important. Monster is just not a good solution for employers right now and when you do not have businesses advertising jobs on the internet then you do not receive a commission and ultimately your business fails or you need to sell the company.
The job environment is in a tough state right now so are the services that help connect employees with employers. Stay away from this sector until the unemployment rate is back within normal range.
